Mondays, Fun Days, and Beika High School
by Kimiko Nishimura
Summary: Continuation of Beika High AU from Power of Reason, Power of Magic. What happens at the school on a normal day? Wait, what's a normal day? Contains: Teacher's Lounge, Martial Arts Club, Detective Club, a dance, a transfer student, and fun in the snow! DISCONTINUED.
1. Martial Arts Club 1

_I __told you Beika High wasn't finished yet!_

**Parallel: Martial Arts Club  
><strong>

**(sometime after Power of Reason, Power of Magic) If you haven't read that one yet, it's best if you do...just saying.**

* * *

><p><strong>Martial Arts Club, Image #1<br>**

THOOM! The sandbag shuddered as Ran's fist made its impact. She pulled her arm back and glared at the bag, imagining it was that person who had shot Shinichi. She began to hit it with a barrage of attacks, all the while fuming at all she had discovered.

The students had only been told that Shinichi was in an accident and would be out of school for a while. Kaito was gone too, but they said he was excused. She had tried to interrogate the teachers for more, but they refused to say anything. Kazuha had suggested asking the club he was in, and she tried to do that, only to be told that they didn't know what had happened either but they knew which hospital he was in.

Ran had went to the hospital, but the nurses told her to come back another time because his family wanted some alone time with him. She understood this and came back the next day, because Kaito said he didn't want to talk about Shinichi's accident in school.

When Ran had gone into the hospital room she learned several things, after pressuring Shinichi into talking. He had been shot. He was still trying to catch the guy. And apparently a few months ago, he had almost been killed by the terrorists' bomb [she found this out when he accidently mentioned them].

Ran wanted to strangle him for being so stupid and careless.

"Ran-chan, are you okay? You don't look so good," Aoko was watching her with concern, along with Sonoko, Kazuha and even Makoto. "If you hit the bag any harder, it'll break."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Ran exclaimed. She took a quick glance at the bag and saw that it actually was about to break. "I guess I was busy thinking."

"Are you getting ready to kill someone?" Sonoko asked.

"Uh, not really," Ran said, blushing a little. "I was thinking about Shinichi."

"Ooo! Tell me more!"

"Go on," Kazuha encouraged. She, Sonoko and Aoko all gathered around Ran. Makoto, feeling awkward, walked out of the practice room.

"Well, it's nothing really,"

"Oh," Aoko complained. "Don't say that!"

"Tell us all your love problems!" Sonoko said.

"It's not love!" Ran defended hotly. "I was just kind of annoyed that Shinichi went off on his own and got hurt. I mean, he has friends who can help him, right? It was irritating me that he doesn't ever ask for help, no matter how much trouble he's in. Does he think I'm just a nuisance?"

"I know what you're talking about," Kazuha said. "Heiji's an idiot that way, too."

"Kaito's just a dummy. He wouldn't know if someone cared about him even if they said it right to his face."

Sonoko listened to the three girls complain about each boy. A knowing smile grew on her face. "So is that why you three are in this club? To take out your frustrations with your boyfriends?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Each girl yelled in unison.

Sonoko smiled and nodded.

Right, that's what they all say.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I know it's short, but these are all just little parallel stories. I have some better ones that I'll put up. Have fun with them!<strong>


	2. Teacher's Lounge 1

_Kimiko: [to Ayumi Kudou:] Uh, no, this fic isn't yaoi. It has Kaito and Shinichi as __**brothers**__. If at any point you think it might hint at BL and feel offended, feel free to stop reading it. I'm not writing to make anyone upset. Just know that I don't intend to make this any more than a Humor/Family/School/AU fic. If I have any pairings, they will be mostly canon. Everyone's happy now, right?_

_And Kaida said she wanted another teacher's lounge in PRPM. Here it is! I'll try to put Akai in more of them, cause he's fun.  
><em>

**Parallel: Teacher's Lounge**

**(I'm going to repost the explanation of the school from Power of Reason, Power of Magic. If you've already read it, just skip it.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Mr. Akai and Ms. Vineyard, Confrontation<br>**

In trying to find the best teachers possible for Beika High School, Eri Kisaki had unintentionally brought together one of the most interesting groups of adults in Japan. Some of the teachers were normal enough, but there were others, especially the ones teaching the juniors, who were just plain…odd. They may have seemed perfectly normal in a different situation, but in a high school setting, it was hard to follow Ms. Kisaki's reasoning for gathering them under one roof to guide young students into the world of tomorrow.

Even Eri Kisaki had moments when she would wonder at her own intentions. Was it okay so have such a group of clashing individuals teaching students? She would usually dismiss such thoughts by reminding herself that the students were getting the best education possible. As long as they got the best education, the methods of these best teachers didn't matter, right?

She would often unload her worries on Mr. Black, the guidance counselor, even though he was supposed to be a counselor for students. He apparently understood her worries, though. He would agree with her and say that her teachers were giving the students the best education they could get. That was the job of an instructor and finding these people was the job of a principal. Therefore, she had done her job. Now all she had to do was keep the school running smoothly, keep the students active in school, and oversee festivals and graduation, he would politely explain. Oh, and whatever she did, she shouldn't go into the teacher's lounges…

* * *

><p>Ms. Chris Vineyard liked to know about everything that was going on concerning Beika High. She didn't enjoy gossiping, no that was Mrs. Kudou's specialty. But she liked to hear all the gossip, and then figure out how much of it was true. She didn't do too much with the facts she found out. She simply put it in her mind to build a better impression of people.<p>

So when she heard from Mrs. Yukiko Kudou about Mr. Akai's supposed involvement in the terrorist attack, she was intrigued. Chris Vineyard knew that if she asked him directly, she would get nothing but cryptic questions in return. Instead, she began casually asking vague questions in conversations with other members of the staff to find out more.

Mr. Kudou was sure Mr. Akai had worked for a government agency.

Ms. Kobayashi reported that he had inherited weapons and the skills to use them from his father.

Ms. Starling just laughed and said, "Well, everyone has their hobbies! I like gaming myself."

Mr. Agasa said he didn't want to pry into his friends' secrets.

Mr. Black said there wasn't too much besides his teaching credentials that he had on record.

Mr. Okiya replied, with an eerie gleam in his eyes, that he knew Mr. Akai was hiding a lot. He figured Mr. Akai would reveal it when he wanted to, if ever.

Ms. Kisaki, the last one she spoke with, said that the only thing she wanted from Mr. Akai was excellence. She also firmly mentioned that she didn't want to know about her staff's personal lives.

Chris Vineyard didn't bother asking anyone else. They would just have more guesses and speculations. But she did want to hear what Mr. Akai would say about himself. It would be interesting, to say the least.

So when she found the teacher's lounge empty except for Mr. Shuichi Akai, she decided it was her chance. She wasn't going to force an answer out of him, because she wanted to hear it in a truthful way.

"Oh, you're the only one here, Shuichi Akai?"

"It seems to be that way. Unless someone set up a camera in here to find out more about the teachers,"

Was he on to her? "A student, or a teacher?"

"Either, depending on their motives."

This wasn't working the way she had been hoping for. The conversation would be significantly harder to manipulate when she was only responding. Well, she could still work with it. "So why would a student want to spy on their teachers?"

Akai inwardly knew what Ms. Vineyard was trying to do. Two could play at this game. "For mostly petty reasons, such as finding out about schoolwork being assigned. Or, to find out about teacher relationships for blackmail. There are people who do that."

"Oh, then I guess the teachers should be careful."

"We always have to be careful. In a school run by Ms. Kisaki, we need to keep an eye on our actions at all times."

"Or one of the teachers might see, like on a hidden camera, and tell her?"

"The Principal is not exactly the biggest threat in this school. I was saying that the teachers should constantly strive to be the best to uphold the school's reputation."

"Our reputation, you say?"

"Yes. You know, of course, that Ms. Kisaki is one of the most outstanding education leaders around. Before she came to this school, several colleges wanted her as a dean. But for some reason, she said she wanted to be the principal of a high school. She came to this one and completely turned it around."

Chris had known that Eri Kisaki was respected, but she didn't know _that_ much. She narrowed her eyes at Shuichi Akai. He was proving to her that he was just as good, if not better, at collecting information than she.

"Actually I didn't know all that. Wow, she's really amazing. I'll have to tell her the next time I see her." This was Chris's way of admitting defeat and she knew that he understood her true meaning. "I hope I can have another conversation like this sometime soon."

"I'll look forward to talking to you, Chris Vineyard."

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: Ooo, they're like two sharks slowly circling each other. Just wait till Okiya talks to Akai. He's a bit more straightforward. And Mr. Kudou?<br>**

**Flanagan and I don't own this and we hope you're enjoying it!**

**If you have any requests for Teacher's Lounge, I'll try to write them!  
><strong>


	3. Teacher's Lounge 2

**Parallel: Teacher's Lounge**

* * *

><p><strong>Dr. Agasa and Ms. Haibara, Collaboration<strong>

Eri Kisaki really did have a lot of faith in her staff of both teachers and administration. In fact, many of the teaching staff would conduct research on their own time to further enrich the material they taught in their classes. Ms. Ai Haibara was one of these teachers who would spend too much of her spare time experimenting and meticulously logging the data. Dr. Hiroshi Agasa would also experiment, but he was considerably more klutzy and scatterbrained than Ms. Haibara. Still, the younger teacher was interested in his projects and would often offer to help him gather conclusions based on his random inventions.

One day, they were both in one of the teacher's lounges, setting up an intricate mechanism. Dr. Agasa had almost forgotten what it was supposed to do, though, regardless of the fact that it was his creation.

But thankfully, Ms. Haibara hadn't. It was a new type of security scanner that would note the location of everything in a room with few blind spots. Right now, they were covering the walls with the thin rubber-coated mesh that contained small sensors at regular intervals.

"Miss Ai, would you please hold this here for me while I get a push-pin?"

Ai Haibara did so, but didn't miss the chance to critique his idea. "Not that's it's any of my business, but the Principal isn't going to like it if she sees pin marks on her walls. You'd be better off using something else to hold the net to the walls."

"Oh, like tape?"

"If you want to use tape," Haibara muttered. She watched with a bored expression as he stuck the net to the wall with pieces of masking tape. "You shouldn't rely on my input too much. After all, it is _your_ research project."

"Yes, of course."

They worked for a few minutes before something occurred to Ms. Haibara.

"Agasa, you _are_ still keeping up with your course syllabus, aren't you?"

"My syllabus?"

"The topics you're supposed to be teaching those students of yours? Even though you're doing all of these research projects, you still prioritize the students' education, aren't you? Please don't tell me that they won't understand Physics at all when I have them for Chemistry next year."

"Oh, I'm sure they're keeping up with their work. I haven't been collecting their assignments very much because I've been working on this, though,"

Haibara exhaled softly. Really, this man was brilliant, but he was just a little too brilliant for a high school. He might fit in better at a college or university. She decided it was best to lecture him sternly, but in a slightly encouraging way. He was one of the special teachers Ms. Kisaki had found for the school and he really could teach well, but he got too enthusiastic about the topics he was teaching sometimes. "Dr. Agasa, it's nice that you do these research projects, but you can at least tie them in with your lessons."

"But I do, Miss Ai."

"How?" Haibara was curious. Mr. Agasa was still her senior in science and she accepted any tips that he gave her.

"I get the students to help me make the calculations and measurements. They're actually very good."

"And you still explain the lessons, right?"

"Yes, I explain the theories behind the things I do. They don't complain about the work I give them too much."

"You still grade it, don't you?"

"I don't have time. I give them participation grades. And when I do the experiment in class, I usually give them grades based off how well it goes, or how well they responded to any emergency situation the failed device caused."

Haibara could have slowly detailed how fundamentally unprofessional this was, but figured it would not make much of an impact. And besides, his students usually finished the class with a generally good sense of physics. At least they could apply the formulas and functions to real-life situations. And maybe this way of teaching really did work.

Finally, they had finished sticking the nets to the walls. Agasa put a large device with several wires sticking out of it into the center of the room. He plugged each wire into one of the corresponding nets on the walls. Then he plugged the last cord into a USB slot in his computer.

"Now, if everything is as it should be, I just have to open this program and—" he stopped. "Well. That might be a problem."

"What is it?" Ms. Haibara wondered.

"I forgot about a source of power for the nets."

Ai Haibara closed her eyes before she said anything.

It was true that Hiroshi Agasa was older than her and might know more about certain fields in science than she. But she definitely knew more about common sense than him.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I'm going to be going back to school on the <strong>**third of January. It's so annoying. Though I'll still be brainstorming. Even so, my updates won't be as fast [except maybe on weekends]  
><strong>


	4. No Business Like Snow Business 1

**Parallel: No Business Like Snow Business**

**(still after the events of Power of Reason, Power of Magic)**

* * *

><p><strong>Part 1<strong>

Kaito was through with dangerous encounters for the year. If he was going to do something risky, he had decided it would be something he chose.

That was one reason he had become Kaitou KID. It was so fun, leading the police on the chase he plotted. And Shinichi, true to his promise, aided the police in their preventative measures. He made Kaito take the heist seriously, even as he was having the time of his life. Each time, Kaito would give the item he stole back, usually in a way that somehow frustrated Inspector Nakamori even more.

After a few of these heists, Shinichi had said in exasperation, "Can you amuse yourself with something _normal_ for a change?"

Kaito had considered this seriously. He did want to have fun with his friends at school. What was something fun AND legal and semi-normal that they could all enjoy?

He had decided on a trip to the mountains. His mother had gotten all excited for it and found a skiing lodge, reserving enough rooms for a sizeable crowd. All Kaito and Shinichi would have to do was invite people. She especially encouraged them to get people who were a lot of laughs and had enough good luck to counter Shinichi's bad luck.

In the end, Kaito, Shinichi, Aoko, Ran, Heiji, Kazuha, Keiko, Genta, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Eisuke, and a few other classmates were coming. Chikage was the only chaperone, but she felt as excited as a child to come. Shinichi has also suggested Akako Koizumi, because she had been so helpful before and he wanted to thank her. Kaito invited her, reluctantly because she still creeped him out. And he had to hide behind Shinichi to do so.

It was a very long trip to the resort, packed into several vehicles. Kaito either pretended to sleep while snoring noisily or messed with Shinichi the whole way. Everyone was glad when they finally arrived at the lodge. They would be rooming in pairs and these were decided soon, even though Shinichi pointed out that they could have done this during the ride.

Kaito wanted Shinichi in his room, telling him that they could pretend to be each other more easily this way. Shinichi rolled his eyes at this, but Kaito could tell that his brother was considering the idea too. He had enjoyed the looks and reactions they got when their friends saw two people looking and acting like Kaito or Shinichi. Kaito knew it was just as funny to Shinichi.

As they got their gear, Kaito noticed that Shinichi had a snowboard instead of skis. This was mildly disappointing, because now they couldn't have a twin mix-up. But Kaito always looked at the opportunities these things opened up. He grinned to himself. Instead of a twin mix-up, which would be funny in itself, they could have a ski-snowboard race. He knew Shinichi was very competitive when he had the right motivation and all Kaito had to do now was find that motivation.

"Hey, Shinichi! Let's have a race tomorrow!"

"Why should I race with you?"

"To prove whether snowboarding is better than skiing,"

"That's stupid. They're both fun. I just wanted to snowboard. If you're doing this just because we have different equipment, then find someone else to play with. Besides I want to race Hattori today. I don't want to race two days in a row."

Kaito was intrigued. "Why are you racing with him and not me?"

Shinichi was annoyed at his brother's questions, but answered them anyway. Kaito might find a different way to force answers out of him. "He said that if he lost, he would do whatever I asked."

"What are you going to make him do?"

Shinichi smiled evilly. "I'm going to force him to tell Kazuha Toyama he likes her."

"Ooo, you're pretty evil, Shin-chan." Kaito teased, poking Shinichi in the ribs. "It's scary. And what is he going to do if he wins?"

"Um, he said he wanted to hear me play my violin, because he's never heard it."

"So you brought your violin here? That's nice too. I haven't heard you play in a while. You're still pretty good, aren't you?" Kaito's brother nodded. "Well I guess it's better than having you sing."

"If he said that, I'd forget the bet. At least I'm not going to embarrass myself, even if everyone asks me to play more afterwards. I think he's stupid for making a bet where he's not going to make such a big gain, but he might be planning something else."

Kaito still wanted to race Shinichi, but the bets sounded fun. He thought for a moment. "How about this: If I beat both of you, I get to make you help me with a prank on everyone?"

Shinichi blanched. "I'd have to ask Hattori." But inwardly, he began to think, _'But if he loses, we can force him to learn how to ice-skate…' _Maybe his brother was right. Maybe he did have an evil streak.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I love this as much as I seriously dislike going back to school. This is going to continue for a few chapters, but I might throw in a Teacher's Lounge or two in between.<strong>

**And Hakuba isn't here yet…he'll show up later, but he definitely will show up. He's a good character to encourage humor and action, especially at the heists.**


	5. No Business Like Snow Business 2

_Kimiko: To anyone who's read this far without reading __Power of Reason, Power of Magic__, I'd like to take this moment to request that you read it now. It really is pretty good, and it explains this setting and basic plot. If you've even taken the time to read this note, then please read it._

**Parallel: No Business Like Snow Business**

**Part 2**

Heiji had agreed to include Kaito in their race, which didn't surprise Shinichi in the least. Heiji had always seemed to enjoy his brother's company. But usually these times when the three of them were together, Kaito either played a joke on Shinichi or both Heiji and Shinichi. Heiji and Kaito were the only ones who found these jokes funny.

Everyone somehow found out about the race and decided they would wait at the bottom of the slope the boys had chosen to see who would win. They knew that personal bets were involved, but they didn't know what these were. Still, they were excited and decided it would be a great start to the day's events.

Since none of the three competitors trusted the others, they all went up on the same lift chair. This resulted in a lot of glares, challenges and playful threats. Kaito still wasn't aware of what he would be forced to do if he lost, but he didn't intend to lose.

Even if it meant cheating a little.

Once at the top, Shinichi had to have another skier watch them to make sure they all started at the same time, because of the continued bickering.

But as they started, Shinichi slipped into an air of concentration. There were places on the slope that could make you faster or slower, and it changed slightly if you were on a snowboard compared to skis. He kept an eye on Heiji and Kaito all the way down, aware that all three were extremely close.

Heiji had been sure that both Kuroba brothers were awesome at skiing and snowboarding, but he hadn't exactly been expecting such tough competition. He was already worried that he might lose. He tried hard to make up the time he lost when he missed icier spots in the snow, but he had a feeling that he was going to end up in last place. Well, there was still some time in the race…

Kaito paid close attention to the shifting positions. The others were good. He might have to play dirty after all. He would rather be confident in his victory, anyway.

But it had to be something that looked innocent enough to pass off as an accident. And he didn't want to hurt anyone, just to make sure that he won. Kaito looked carefully at the snow ahead of him, searching for the perfect opportunity.

* * *

><p>Shinichi and Heiji were both fuming as they ended the race at least two meters behind Kaito. They were both sure he had cheated at that one corner. However, faithful detectives that they were, they knew there was no true proof that he did. They just had to accept their loss.<p>

Still, there was one thing Shinichi could do. As he entered the crowd of people congratulating Kaito on winning, he said, "Well, Kaito, I guess we lost the bet. Too bad, because we would have had you do something really interesting."

Kaito knew that tone. He knew where Shinichi was trying to go. Of course the crowd, in their interest at Shinichi's comment, would ask what the bet was and then pressure Kaito into doing it anyway.

"What was he going to do?" Aoko asked. At least five other people chimed in afterwards.

Shinichi shot Kaito a devious smirk and announced, "I was going to get you to learn how to ice skate, seeing as you can't do it."

Kaito couldn't believe how his brother could be sometimes. He knew he would have to face the music now.

* * *

><p>That evening, Shinichi sat down next to the fireplace while everyone gathered around him. He and Heiji had agreed to make up for their revenge on Kaito by helping him scare everyone when he told ghost stories. And Kaito would ice-skate, but only after Heiji confessed to Kazuha, so everyone's attention would be on them.<p>

He held his violin, half-wishing a string would come loose. But it wasn't a bad bet to lose, so he might as well play. He set his bow to the strings and started Air on the G-string.

As always, he forgot all about his surroundings as he began to play the violin. The whole room, including the other guests, was entranced by his skill. Heiji was surprised. Kaito felt proud for his brother.

Unthinkingly, he moved into Amazing Grace once he was done. This was a piece that he always liked to play, whatever mood he was in. It felt like it lifted his mind away and returned it when he felt clear and calm.

The room was silent for a second after he finished this and then burst into applause. Shinichi felt a little embarrassed, but smiled anyway. He sat down with Ran and she held his hand, talking about how neat it was that he could play so well.

Kaito began to push the second form of entertainment, Heiji, in the direction of Kazuha. He whispered, "If you don't want your feelings to be exposed right here and now by someone else, go do it."

Heiji felt stiff. It was a promise, but it was still a whole lot different when he was facing the reality of it. He stumbled towards Kazuha and managed to say, "Uh, Kazuha, I want to talk to you." His mind seemed to blank out. All he could hear were her words. He couldn't react anymore. He couldn't hear anyone but Kazuha anymore.

"Well, you're talking right now, aren't you?"

"I mean, it's something important."

"Well then, spit it out, Heiji."

"I, um—I"

"What is it?"

"I like you Kazuha,"

Kazuha paused. "I like you too. You're a good friend."

"No, I mean…I like you even more."

"So—"

"I want to—to be your boyfriend, Kazuha."

"R-really? Oh, um, that's nice I guess,"

Suddenly other voices interjected themselves. People encouraged Kazuha to respond. Heiji was frozen, about to fall over. His senses felt numb.

* * *

><p>Shinichi followed Kaito down to the skating rink. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for any more?"<p>

Kaito grinned back. "I can tell how it'll end. Besides, I don't really want everyone down here when I start messing up. You can teach me first."

Shinichi sighed. "I wanted to make you look like an idiot."

His brother laughed. "Everyone already knows I'm an idiot, Shin-chan~!"

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: But they're still going to see him slip and fall! He doesn't get away that easily! Kaito is going to have a hard time learning how to ice skate.<strong>


	6. The Transfer Student 1

**Parallel: The Transfer Student**

**(Sorry if you wanted ****Snow Business****, but I needed something new to write.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Part 1—Encounter At School<strong>

Mr. Akai wasn't in the room when the morning bell rang for homeroom to start. The students began to murmur among themselves, wondering where he was. It wasn't like their teacher to be late. Although he didn't mind waiting for late students, he was usually someone who was at Beika High School before most of the other teachers.

Ran was talking quietly to Shinichi a few seats ahead of Kaito and Aoko. Kaito listened carefully to hear them.

"I heard from Ms. Starling yesterday during Martial Arts Club practice that a new student is coming."

"You think that the person is going to be in our class?"

"I don't know. But where else would Mr. Akai be?"

This was certainly interesting news. A new student would be someone who didn't know about Kaito's nonconforming approach to school life. He would have to welcome this person in a special way. Kaito briefly wondered if the student was a boy or a girl. It would be fun messing with either. Besides, he would find out in a few minutes. Mr. Akai and either Ms. Kisaki or Mr. Black were probably bringing the student to the classroom right now.

Kaito smiled and leaned back in his chair as he thought of the things he could do today. Lucky for the student, he had the perfect "Welcome to Beika High" package hidden in one of the cabinets in the back of the room.

Aoko noticed Kaito's uncanny face and had a feeling that he was planning something. At least he might not make her chase him away from people. She had noticed that he was much more careful around her since she showed him a martial arts demonstration. Shinichi had compared her to Ran, which she found flattering. She admired Ran's power and ability in karate and often hoped to be more like her.

The door opened and Mr. Akai came in. He left the door open just a little and stood in the front of the room, something he rarely did. The students quieted, waiting for an explanation.

"Good morning," Mr. Akai announced. "Before I take attendance today, we have a new transfer student. Please welcome him and help him out if he needs it. You can come in," he added in the direction of the door.

A tall brownish-blond boy strode to the front of the room. He wrote his name on the chalkboard. "I'm Saguru Hakuba. Nice to meet you." A few of the girls whispered. Kaito figured they thought he was cute, or something girly like that. But he noticed that this student leaked the same 'too-serious-for-jokes' aura that Shinichi often had. This would be fun.

Mr. Akai seated Hakuba almost in the back, only a few seats away from Kaito. He then took attendance as always and sat down at his desk.

A few people got up to talk to the new student. Kaito might have, but they were mostly girls crowding around him. But that was still a good thing. He was learning detective skills from Shinichi (to help him at heists) and he knew that listening to others ask a question was much better than asking the question yourself. And girls would probably pry all of the information he wanted to hear anyway.

Kaito walked over to where Shinichi had moved to Heiji's desk, which was even closer to the new student's desk. Shinichi could tell from Kaito's unusually serene manner that he was listening in on the conversation. He gave his brother a look that said _'I want to hear this later' _and struck up a quiet conversation with Heiji to cover him.

Kaito filtered through the girly talk and found out a few things about the new student:

He was from England, though he was half-Japanese,

He liked solving mysteries and crimes,

From his speech patterns, he was a flirt, fairly polite and rather proud of himself,

And, most interesting of all, the thing he wanted to do most while in Japan was catch Kaitou KID.

Independent Studies would be over in a little while. Kaito gave his brother a knowing smirk and moved back to his seat. Shinichi knew what that meant too. He would bide his time for a while and set off a huge prank sometime around lunchtime.

* * *

><p>Shinichi found out later that the prank was actually set for the time during lunch. All of the students had left the classroom because Dr. Agasa had broken a glass instrument during an experiment and all the pieces were being swept up. A few students went to other classrooms to eat, but many went into the cafeteria.<p>

That was the place of Kaito's joke for the transfer student. A couple dozen bouncy rubber balls were dropping from the ceiling at random intervals. More kept coming. And once the balls started bouncing, they seemed to go on until someone caught them, which was rather hard when they were almost unpredictable. It looked like chaos, but a lot of the students were enjoying it.

The transfer student looked bewildered at the display. Kaito, Shinichi and Heiji all knew who was responsible and started chuckling. They walked up behind him and the Kuroba twins (now looking exactly identical to each other) each threw an arm around his shoulders.

"So, Saguru Hakuba," Shinichi began.

"How do you like Beika High?" Kaito finished.

Heiji kept snickering. They were practically clones of each other now.

"I'm sorry," Hakuba said. "I didn't catch your names."

"I'm Shinichi Kuroba," Shinichi said. "And he's Kaito Kuroba."

"Or, I'm Shinichi Kuroba," Kaito echoed. "And he's Kaito Kuroba."

"Or maybe we're both Kaito," Shinichi proposed.

"Or we're both Shinichi," Kaito finished.

The students who were with Hakuba tried to guess who was who, but both of them had Kaito's messy hairstyle and a Cheshire grin as they simultaneously moved away from the transfer student and stood side by side. Heiji sat down at one of the tables to see what would happen. Hakuba looked from one to the other.

"Well, from what I saw before in the classroom," he announced, "I'm certain that the one on the right is Shinichi. The other one is Kaito. But I still don't quite know if both of you planned this game or if it was only one of you."

Kaito grinned. From Hakuba's back came a small explosion of confetti. The rubber balls were all out of the ceiling now and the last ones were being caught. "Bingo!" he said.

Shinichi lost his grin, but kept an impressed smile. "Was it a guess, or did you really see a difference?"

"Oh, I noticed in the classroom that Shinichi's hair is usually kept combed. Even if you mess it up to look like your brother's it barely retains its natural tendency to be straight instead of Kaito's wavier style. And I learned your names from the roll call. I like to keep people's characteristics in mind and I wanted to find a difference between you because you're twins. Though, you don't seem to be all that much alike. I think it was probably Kaito who organized this trick, but I don't know if Shinichi was in on it."

Shinichi was even more impressed by his reasoning. Kaito felt that he had just found a new serious person to prank, seeing as how Aoko was dangerous now. Heiji instantly thought that he didn't like the transfer student's attitude.

"Well, I hope we work well this year," Shinichi offered.

"Yes," Hakuba said. "I am quite interested in how this year turns out."

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: This was really fun. I'll work on <strong>**Snow Business**** again another day. I had this idea and I think it came out well. [By the way, I think this might be a funny senior prank, but I'm not encouraging you to do this if you'll get in trouble. And I don't own any DC or MK.]**


	7. No Business Like Snow Business 3

_Kimiko: I really hope the quality of this fic isn't deteriorating because of the other one I'm working on right now. I get worried about things like this. I spent a little extra time on this to make sure it was something I wouldn't be embarrassed to read again. Sorry if it's a little late…_

**Parallel: No Business Like Snow Business**

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3<strong>

"I'm sure I can do it this time." Kaito slowly let go of the side rail and tried to balance on his skates. He wobbled dangerously and grabbed the rail again, as if it was his last hope. Shinichi sighed and shook his head. He skated around to face his brother and looked him straight in the face.

"Balancing for two seconds isn't ice-skating, Kaito. Do you want me to pull you around the rink again?"

Kaito tried to prove Shinichi was wrong and boldly pushed away from the rail. After slowly gliding without moving any of his limbs for a meter or so, he found himself unmoving out on the ice. He panicked at this loss of control and slipped again, falling onto the hard, cold ice. Shinichi kindly skated over to him and pulled him off the ground.

"Fine," Kaito mumbled. "But show me how you're pushing with your legs again."

Shinichi started guiding Kaito around the large circle of smooth ice. Kaito was standing right next to him, gripping his brother's arm while hardly moving his legs for fear of slipping again. Shinichi kindly explained how he needed to push his legs to the side as he moved forwards. "Kaito, it's almost like skiing, but you need to push outwards too so you don't lose your balance. But don't push out too much or you'll lose your traction altogether." He demonstrated it a few times and watched as Kaito barely managed to mimic it.

Kaito felt like he was just about to get the hang of it when he suddenly felt Shinichi let go of him. He hadn't even realized it when he had slipped his arm out of his vice-like grip. Kaito tried to turn around and get a hold of his brother again when he forgot about what he had been doing and fell onto his butt again.

He heard a girl's laugh. A very familiar girl's laugh. From his solid position on the ice rink floor, Kaito turned to see Aoko and everyone else watching him. He decided it was best to laugh along and did so. After all, it was rather amusing. He, the great Kaito Kuroba who could do almost everything, couldn't even let go of his training-Shinichi to ice skate on his own.

Shinichi came back to Kaito and helped him up as the others all skated out to meet them. Some weren't all that good at ice-skating and almost slipped too, but not as badly as Kaito.

At least he wasn't as bad as before. When Shinichi first dragged him out, he flailed around wildly in his panic at apparently losing control of his motion.

"Wow, BaKaito, you really can't ice-skate," Aoko said, still giggling. "We can all help you get better, you know." She held one of Kaito's arms and Shinichi held the other. "Once you feel more comfortable, you tell us and we'll let you go. You'll be able to skate on your own in no time if Aoko's your teacher!" She held his hand tightly as they started to move again.

Kaito had to admit that two supporters were better than one while learning this dangerous snow sport. He could focus more on what he was doing while he let the other two guide his direction. "Thanks," he told them, and he really meant it. He honestly believed that he would be able to learn how to ice-skate now.

Because, there were things in life that people just couldn't do by themselves.

Like taking down evil criminal groups, disarming terrorist bombs, stealing rare gems, and learning to ice-skate.

* * *

><p>Kaito knew that he would be facing a lot of remarks about his ice-skating later, but he was definitely improving. He could at least stand on the ice now, even if he couldn't move very far in a straight line on his own just yet.<p>

But he had planned one last thing for the night. It was rather late, but everyone was still too awake to just go to bed. So he had invited everyone to one of the larger rooms for ghost stories. It was time to return to Kaito the Trickster mode. First he would let someone else tell a story and at the most suspenseful part of the climax, he would add in an unscheduled spook to keep everyone alert. You had to take ghost stories seriously so you knew how to deal with them if they showed up!

Then he would tell one story without any interruptions. Anyone else who wanted to tell one could do so afterwards. And the last story would be his best, the one that he had forced Shinichi and Heiji to agree to help him with. They would just help him keep everyone alert again.

He looked around the room at all the people who had assembled and paid attention to where they were and who they were with. This said a lot about how they would take the story, as he was learning from Shinichi. It unconsciously revealed how their inner mind would react to the story. Kaito was doing this because he had to know his audience before the show. The only one he wasn't too sure about was Akako Koizumi, but he would find out more about her from this story.

Heiji cleared his throat and began. "Twelve years ago, in a mountain lodge very, very similar to this one…"

Kaito sat next to Shinichi and listened in anticipation. He already was working out how he would surprise the group towards the end of this story.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I'll think up a good ghost story for Kaito's storytelling finale. I'll try to have that one out in a few days, if I need to take another breather from <strong>**Snow Business****. But in this one, I mainly wanted to focus on Kaito trying to skate. He didn't say much because he was trying to focus, I suppose. I remember when I was learning how to ice-skate and it seemed like every few seconds that I would slip. That's how Kaito felt. He wanted to get it right.**

**Flanagan: You ice-skate?**

**Kimiko: I don't dare to try again now because I have pretty bad balance, ever since I fell and got hurt last year. **


	8. Detective Club 1

****_Kimiko: I didn't get one of these out yesterday and I feel kind of bad for that. I'll see if I can get another out today to make up for it. _

_Flanagan: And remember, we don't have anything to do with Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, or Gosho Aoyama in general.  
><em>

**Parallel: Detective Club**

**(set at the end of ****Power of Reason, Power of Magic****)**

* * *

><p><strong>Case #1, the Mystery of the Hospital Patient<strong>

The Detective Club was unusually silent without Shinichi Kuroba there. The members missed his comforting presence. He and Heiji Hattori were the driving forces behind the others' participation in the club. They were the ones who found the intriguing cases to investigate. Since the terrorist incident, the two club presidents were careful to find safer ones, but they were all quite above looking for lost pets and items.

And now, the normal equilibrium of the clubroom was incomplete. They didn't have any new cases, so the students were mostly in there killing time after school. They sat in their chairs around a table in the center of the room. Heiji was reading _Cat of Many Tails_, Eisuke was studying a high level English book, Mitsuhiko and Genta were playing a card game and Ayumi doodled on the edges of her already-completed homework.

Ayumi sighed again and set her head down on the table. "Hey guys, this is boring. Why can't we do something interesting?"

Heiji closed the Ellery Queen novel and replied, "Because I haven't found another case. And Kuroba's in the hospital too."

"Why is he in the hospital anyway?" Mitsihiko wondered. "I don't remember."

"Come to think of it," Genta said, "I don't know if he told us when we visited him the other day." He looked around the room at the others, but they all had the same questioning face.

"Should we ask him?" Eisuke proposed.

"No, Kuroba would probably just say it was an accident." Heiji said. The detective spirit inside him was beginning to stir again. "That's what the teachers said and what his family said also. But now that I think back, the other Kuroba was really anxious at school the day after we heard about it. I think it was something a bit more serious than a simple accident."

"Like he got hurt by someone else?" Ayumi added.

Heiji nodded. The students thought individually for a moment.

"I don't know about you, but this makes me think of that terrorist thing a couple of months ago." Genta said, narrowing his eyes while staring at the wall. "He could have gotten hurt by those guys for nosing around without help. Do you think he did something similar?"

"It's possible," Eisuke murmured. "But what could be so serious that he had to stay in the hospital?"

"A wound from a knife or a bullet," Mitsuhiko said quietly. "They're serious but he can still survive if he gets help soon enough."

"That means he would have been with someone else at the time." Heiji countered. "And if he didn't trust us enough to even talk to, then it would be someone closer. But it this time, it doesn't feel like a teacher. They would be more likely to get hurt watching out for him. So it's probably…"

Realization dawned on everyone in the room at the same time.

"Kaito."

The room was silent again, but this time it was a silence of discovery.

"So he got hurt from a knife or a gun while he was with his brother, investigating something dangerous?" Ayumi said slowly, trying to clarify the conclusion they had reached.

"Most likely," Heiji responded. "It's the best solution for all of this. And the fact that he hasn't told us what he did to get the injury seems to back it up even more. But both Kurobas would be hard to ask for the truth. Instead," he stopped for a few seconds to think up a strategy, "We'll go to the hospital again and talk around the topic. We'll see if he's going to be honest about it, and if he won't, we'll face him with our deduction and see if he admits to it." The others agreed and they headed off for the hospital.

* * *

><p>Shinichi was alone in the hospital room when the Detective Club found him, using his laptop. He looked up in surprise, about to shove the computer under his sheets, be relaxed when he saw who it was. He pressed a few more keys and flipped the screen down, setting it aside.<p>

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"Aw, Kuroba," Heiji laughed. "You're still a workaholic even in the hospital?" The group gathered around Shinichi's bed.

"I'm fine." Shinichi protested. "I just don't want any of the doctors or nurses seeing it because they might take it away."

"What are you working on?" Genta asked.

"Um, just something for Kaito,"

"Does it have to do with how you got hurt?" Eisuke asked, and then suddenly realized he had horrible timing. The other Detective Club members sighed and Shinichi blinked in surprise.

"No," Shinichi said slowly. "I got hurt in a simple accident."

Heiji decided he might as well take advantage of the opportunity Eisuke had opened. He would press Shinichi into a corner with their deduction, and force him to confess. "What type of accident? Falling down the stairs? Then why don't you have any bruises on your body?" He didn't give Shinichi any time to respond. "I'm sure you have a good story cooked up, but we're not idiots, Kuroba. You didn't tell us anything, but I'm sure your family knows everything. Especially your brother Kaito. You two probably got yourselves into some situation like the terrorist one and thought it was best to keep it to yourselves. And a few days ago, you stupidly decided to rush into something dangerous and got hurt, probably from a knife or a gun, right? Don't lie to us. We're smarter than you think."

Shinichi was silent for a few moments out of shock. His head fell and he stared at his hands. "You guys are great detectives. Okay, I'll admit it. Kaito was the one who was about to get hurt and I tried to help, but there was a person with a gun nearby and he mistook me for him. I don't really want to tell you what we were doing, because it's kind of a complicated family matter."

"Your family shoots people?" Mitsuhiko said incredulously.

"No, that was the guy who my family accidentally got involved with. But it's all over now. Kaito and I brought the person to justice."

His friends considered this information for a minute. Heiji sighed and shook his head. "Wow, Kuroba, you must be cursed or something, to have all these types of things happen to you. We'll have to keep an eye on you from now on."

Shinichi smiled. "I don't really mind. I think my family's going to be like that too. It'll make it significantly harder to be a detective that way, though."

"Oh, don't worry." Genta said. "We'll all be detectives together. If your brother doesn't trust us enough, he can come along on our case investigations too. I thought he was kind of cool last time."

"Yeah, you don't have to worry as long as you have us!" Ayumi added. "We're the Detective Club, after all!"

* * *

><p><strong>Flanagan:<strong> **Review if you liked this. This case was simple, but we'll think up better mysteries for "Conan Edogawa" to solve. And there's also going to be more Teacher's Lounge, Transfer Student, Snow Business, and other things...If you have any requests for a Beika High parallel, just ask and we'll see what we can come up with.**


	9. Teacher's Lounge 3

**Parallel: Teacher's Lounge**

**(another short one, but it's here to prove that Beika High occasionally does get normal days. And I like this combination of personalities...)**

* * *

><p><strong>Ms. Miyano and Ms. Kobayashi, Relaxation<strong>

Eri Kisaki was beginning to get worried. She had just passed by a group of students who had been talking about the teachers. Her teachers. At the moment, she had been intrigued and stopped to listen. What they said shook her confidence in her staff again. _"So I heard Dr. Agasa and Ms. Haibara covered the walls of teacher's lounge with some weird net thing." "Oh, that was supposed to be a prototype security system. He had us do some of the calculations in class. I wonder if it's still up. It'd be cool to see." _So now Ms. Kisaki was hurrying over to the teacher's lounge, determined to see if anything was amiss.

She arrived before the door and froze. What was she supposed to do if something really was wrong? Well, she was a reasonable and intelligent principal. She could figure it out once she saw the room. She reached for the handle and slowly turned it.

* * *

><p><em>A few minutes ago, in the teacher's lounge…<em>

Ms. Akemi Miyano smiled and held the box out to her friend. "I was showing my sister how to make these yesterday. I thought they turned out great, but she was really self-conscious about it. So I told her I would ask someone else for their opinion."

Ms. Sumiko Kobayashi reached into the plastic container and took one of the cookies. She bit into it, and instantly could enjoy the chewy texture and the sugary ingredients. "Oh, it's amazing! Ms. Haibara made these?"

Akemi beamed with pride. "I knew it! Yes, she did. It was actually her first try making them from scratch!"

"Really?" Sumiko exclaimed. "Wow, she must really have talent. That and you're a great teacher!" She realized how funny the last statement was and laughed. "I mean, a good culinary teacher. Maybe you should switch from Art to Home Economics, Akemi."

"No, I really like teaching Art," Akemi protested. "I get to meet such wonderful students. I'm sure you feel the same way?"

"Yes. But some of them are quite a handful."

"Who?"

"Well, one of my classes has both of those Kuroba twins. Shinichi Kuroba is usually very studious, but there are some times that he acts just like Kaito Kuroba. It almost drives me crazy, especially when they play tricks on me and the class, but it's all done in a fun way. Did you know them last year, Akemi?"

"I had them in two different classes. Shinichi was definitely a lot quieter than Kaito. I'm so glad that he's opened up more. He seems a whole lot happier, especially in that club he founded with Heiji Hattori."

"I am too. And that club, doesn't your sister sponsor it?"

"Well," Akemi muttered. "She technically does, but she doesn't spend a whole lot of time helping it out. I usually see her with Hiroshi Agasa."

"Agasa? What do they do together?"

"I personally think she really admires his ideas, but she'd never admit it. She does worry about him a lot. I think that even though she's younger than him, she might be happy with him."

"Isn't he about twelve years older than her?"

"Yeah, but I don't think age is too much of a problem, if people are really in love."

"Oh, I don't either." Sumiko suddenly remembered something. She took another of Haibara's homemade cookies and asked, "Speaking of love, don't you have a thing for Mr. Akai?"

"Y-you mean Shuichi Akai? N-no, of course not! I mean, he's a really nice person and all, but I hardly even see him!"

Sumiko and Akemi faced each other for a few moments, and then promptly burst into laughter. "I'm just playing around, Akemi," Sumiko managed to say. They giggled like little girls for a while, when suddenly the door to the teacher's lounge opened. The two tried to control their emotions long enough to gaze at the newcomer.

Ms. Kisaki saw two of her teachers, eating cookies and apparently laughing over a good joke in a room that was definitely not covered with the remains of a science experiment. She sighed with relief. The world was still normal. Beika High School was still in the hands of good, reliable teachers.

"Oh, Ms. Kisaki, nice to see you!"

"Would you like a cookie?"

"No thank you, I was just—um—just here to borrow the tape." She looked over at the place where she figured it would be. The other two teachers got up to help her look for it. But all they found were empty plastic rolls.

"What happened to the tape?"

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I know, Agasa isn't really twelve years younger than Haibara, but I kind of wanted to make him younger for this. Besides, can you imagine a younger scatterbrained Agasa, coming up with brilliant ideas but forgetting minor details? It's kind of cute, for a science-minded person like Haibara. And Ai and Akemi have different last names for a reason I haven't figured out yet. Maybe they're half-sisters, but really close.<strong>

**Flanagan: By the way, the tape was used up by Agasa in the last Teacher's Lounge. **


	10. The Transfer Student 2

_Flanagan: Finally we can get this out. The site wouldn't let us sign on and we were pretty much locked out for a few hours.  
><em>

_Kimiko: Flanagan, I get worried when my computer keeps shutting off randomly. But I keep saving my work just in case it crashes.  
><em>

**Parallel: The Transfer Student**

* * *

><p><strong>Part 2—A Friend? A Threat?<strong>

The day after the rubber ball incident in the cafeteria, people still went to school as they usually did. For some reason, Ms. Kisaki hadn't heard about it, or if she did, she made no public announcement. It could have been that she didn't know who was responsible, or that she just didn't think the event hindered the education of her students.

Kaito and Shinichi had met up with Aoko, Heiji, Kazuha and Ran on their way to school. Or rather, Kaito had decided that it was more fun going to school with friends and called for everyone to meet up with each other, just for the sake of walking in a group. The others admitted it was a good idea and walked together merrily, talking mostly about how much fun it was in the cafeteria the other day. All of them knew that Kaito was the one who set it up.

"You should've seen that new guy's face when he saw it!" Heiji was exclaiming to Kazuha, who had stayed in the classroom and only heard the gossip afterwards. "And then the Kurobas came up to him and were acting like perfect identical twins. The only thing that could've made it better is if he didn't guess correctly."

Kazuha cocked her head slightly, looking confused. "He guessed which was which? How did he do that?"

"He had noticed us in the classroom before and was looking for differences to start with," Shinichi explained. "I think he's a pretty observant person."

"I think he's kind of stuck up." Heiji countered. "It was probably a lucky guess and he made up that stuff afterwards. He seems really full of himself."

"Oh, do I?" Saguru Hakuba's voice came from behind. The group of students turned around to see him a few meters behind them, with the hint of a smirk on his face. "I'm sorry. I don't make it a habit to listen in on others' conversations, but it intrigues me when the topic is myself."

Heiji's face went red, but he made no effort to apologize, scowling instead. Thankfully, he didn't have to say anything because the others began talking to Saguru in his absence. They had included him in their clustered walk to their school.

"Oh, Hakuba, I'm sorry the idiot offended you," Kazuha said. Heiji was about to protest at being called an idiot, but he might have to deal with speaking to the new kid if he did. Better to stay out of the conversation. "But I personally think you're an interesting person. You said you came from England?"

"That's where I was last."

"Oh, but your Japanese is pretty good!" Aoko exclaimed. "Have you lived here before?"

"Yes, for a while." Saguru flashed a dazzling smile at her and Aoko blushed. "I really like Japan. But the main reason that I moved here is to try to catch Kaitou KID."

"Just for that?" Ran asked. "I mean, it's an okay goal, but you are still a high school student. Catching criminals is for the police."

"And Kaitou KID only works here in Japan. Why would you want to come all the way from England to look for one jewel thief?" Shinichi added. Kaito silently listened to how Saguru would respond.

"Well, even though I'm young, I'm still an excellent detective," he said, not bothering to hide the pride in his tone. "I solved many crimes in England, working with my father. It doesn't really matter how young I am, as long as I have the skill. And as for that jewel thief—" he seemed to consider his answer for a moment. "I heard about the Shah Diamond being stolen by a new gentlemanly thief calling himself Kaitou KID. I was interested in him, but soon I saw that he only operated in Japan. So I decided I would come over here. It may seem whimsical, but I don't exactly think that the police here are enough to catch him."

Aoko glared angrily at him. "My father is doing his best! It's that dumb thief who's playing with him! The police here are perfectly competent, but he makes them seem like mere fools!"

"And besides," Ran added. "The police aren't the only ones after KID. Shinichi goes to the heists and, together with the police, he keeps that thief from getting away with most of the items!"

"Really?" Saguru said, turning to face Shinichi. "I didn't know. So, you've seen him, what he does, how he acts?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Well, yes, I suppose. I do consider myself to be at least an amateur detective, though I don't take on as many cases as you have. Heiji and I started a Detective Club and we help out his with some of the unsolved crimes that his father, the superintendent, receives."

Saguru Hakuba actually looked impressed. "So not only do you foil Kaitou KID's plots at his heists, but you also are the founder a group that deals with difficult cases?"

"I'm one of the presidents too," Heiji tried to say, but Kaito had decided that is was time for him to contribute to their discussion. Before Heiji even opened his mouth, he had out a small megaphone and shouted into it: "YEAH! ISN'T MY BROTHER SHIN-CHAN SO COOL?"

They had reached the school by now. Any further conversation was difficult due to the clamor around the doors inside. They would have to wait until they all got to the classroom for further talk. But Shinichi still had things to say to Kaito before that. So while they changed shoes, he whispered just loudly enough for his twin to hear.

"Hakuba's interesting, but I think we should be a bit careful around him. I don't want anything happening and you getting found out."

"Oh~? But he might be fun to play with at KID's heists."

"You want to spend more time around him? He's after KID, you know! It's not just a game like it is with just me and the police. He'll really try hard to put you in jail!"

"But he likes you. I'm sure he'll trust you enough to work with you. That means you can keep an eye on him if anything goes wrong."

"I already have my hands full with the police, who don't trust me. And Hakuba saw us acting like each other the other day. I'm sure he'll be suspicious if he notices too much about Kaitou KID and Shinichi Kuroba's faint similarities in physical features, especially adding in the fact that he has a twin named Kaito. He'd draw a connection eventually."

"Oh, don't worry. We can do anything together. And all we have to do is keep any and all physical evidence that I might be KID out of his hands. It'll be easier than you realize, Shinichi!"

* * *

><p><em>Later that day…<em>

Saguru had gotten his mind wrapped around theories of Kaitou KID's personality again at lunch, making Aoko stalk away with the other girls following. "I wonder why he steals things. I wonder if there's some motive that drives him, especially to act like a gentlemen while he does it."

Shinichi sighed. He had ordered Kaito to keep input to a minimum and Heiji had already refused to be in Hakuba's presence, saying, _"There's something about him that just ticks me off." _Shinichi decided he might as well try to offer a probable solution.

"Maybe he thinks it's fun." It was a likely proposition that someone who knew slightly more than the average Japanese citizen might suggest. "He always seems to enjoy himself at the heists I go to. It could be the thrill of a chase or the chance to prove the feat can be done. He uses magic tricks. Kaito says that magicians like to perform in front of an audience. The police might be his audience."

"No," Saguru muttered, staring off into empty space. "There must be another reason. Otherwise he'd just be an ordinary magician." He didn't hear Kaito snickering at the use of the word 'ordinary' to describe a magician. "It's mostly based off the Shah Diamond disappearance, but I feel like he has some deep, serious motive and only puts on a playful front."

Shinichi glanced over at Kaito, who was trying very hard not to burst into laughter. Deep motive? Like what? Annoying and worrying his twin brother to death? No.

"I think you're horribly over-thinking that thief."

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: That was fun, wasn't it Flanagan?<strong>

**Flanagan: I guess. For the next "Transfer Student," you're going to have them go to a heist, right?**

**Kimiko: Since you asked, sure! [Reviewers can request things too!]**


	11. The Transfer Student 3

_Kimiko: Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately) I don't own any of this. The people, setting, etc. all belongs to Gosho Aoyama. He's so amazing that he gets paid for the amazing-ness he writes. I don't, though I do give Flanagan hugs for looking over my fics. I guess all we own is our talent…_

**Parallel: The Transfer Student**

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3—Heists Are Fun For Everyone!<strong>

Shinichi was eternally glad that Hakuba hadn't asked about Kaito yet, though he did have an explanation. Kaito was supposedly watching the live television broadcast from home with their mother, as two eager fans of Kaitou KID. It was believable. When KID's note was released several days ago, he and Aoko were both talking nonstop about it. He and many people in the class were excited to see another accomplishment (or maybe to first failure) of the popular phantom thief, and Aoko was raging about how KID was such a nuisance to her father.

Hakuba had expressed his interest in attending the heist with Shinichi and the police task force, to try to prevent KID from stealing his target. It had taken Shinichi a lot of convincing, but Nakamori finally gave in, only insisting that the teens 'stay out of the police's way' when KID showed up.

As for Kaito himself, Shinichi clearly pleaded for him to be more careful in his planning. Kaito had laughed at his brother's concern, trying to reassure him that he would be fine, as always. "After all, Shinichi, you'll be there too! And I'll have Jii-chan backing me up just in case."

So here they were, waiting for the star to make his entrance.

Shinichi closed his eyes, feeling his stress building up, and leaned against the wall.

The target this time was a black silk and velvet cape, called "Vincent's Starry Night." It had countless tiny white crystals sewn onto the outside to give the appearance of a starry night. The clasp was silver, with a large, bright yellow sapphire set into the metal.

Shinichi had wondered why Kaito kept targeting jewels. He had reasoned that they no longer needed to, as the Pandora was already gone. Kaito's explanation was: "They're pretty. I like to steal sparkly, shiny things. I can see my face in them." To this, Shinichi had replied: "Yeah, so you can see your face with your dumb grin." Kaito considered this as encouragement and promptly thanked him for his confidence in his certain victory.

Saguru was still inspecting every inch of the area around the display case, while constantly checking his watch. Nakamori was assertively addressing the reporters about how sure he was that KID couldn't escape with the "Starry Night." The task force was surrounding the case and forming a barrier between the reporters and the case. Shinichi just looked at his own watch. Any second now…

White smoke exploded throughout the room. Shinichi knew that Kaito already had the cape and was probably poised on top of the case. He should get into his own position now, next to Hakuba so he could keep an eye on him. He didn't know what the other teenage detective was going to do.

* * *

><p>Kaito triumphantly stood atop the case right behind the cape's original case. The smoke was now filtered out of the ventilation systems. He had "Vincent's Starry Night" around his shoulders, over his own white cape. He smirked as he saw the angry faces of the task force, the astonishment of the reporters who were now trying desperately to get closer, and the calculating glances of Hakuba and Shinichi.<p>

"Thank you so much for watching 'Vincent's Starry Night' until I could get here, Inspector," he said politely, but still mockingly, "I would love to stay and chat, but I think that _this,_" he indicated the cape, "would much rather be out in the starry night, don't you?"

The reporters were almost through the cordon, and Nakamori was already shouting, "KID! You stay right where you are! I'm going to get you once and for all tonight! Men, do it, now!" Kaito waited patiently as the net was thrown over him. He had already seen this and had cut a large hole in it, hidden by loose ties.

"Oh, my, Inspector," Kaito said with a chuckle, "I suppose you think I'm trapped now? But you know, you can't hold the sky, or a phantom, with a net." He set off a different smoke bomb, with a smaller amount of smoke, and quickly slipped out of the net into the large ventilation shaft. Meanwhile, Jii, dressed as KID and wearing a replica of the cape, replaced him at an open door on the other side of the room. Jii would lead the police on a merry chase while Kaito got ready for his escape. Jii would then hide until Kaito was out, then leave along with the rush of the press. It had worked before, and even Shinichi thought it was a decent escape plan.

And it was working too. Jii lured the police, the press and the detectives out of the room. Kaito quietly slipped out of the vent and began to make his way to the roof.

* * *

><p>Shinichi paused, along with Saguru. "He's probably heading for a window or a door so he can escape," he explained quickly. "The nearest one that he might take is back down that hallway."<p>

"No, I don't think so," Saguru countered. "He escapes on a hang-glider sometimes, right? I think he's heading for the roof."

Shinichi instantly started stressing again. It was still too early. He had to give Kaito more of a head start, or he might get caught. But he definitely couldn't afford to let Hakuba become suspicious that he was trying to help Kaitou KID. That would point doubt towards everyone Shinichi knew, with Kaito at the top of the list.

"Okay, the stairs are this way," Shinichi said. The two teens started racing on their new path. "What about Nakamori and the task force?" he asked as they began up the steps.

"He might get away in the time it would take for us to go there. I wouldn't want to split up to do so either, because two have a better chance of stopping him than one. And I really don't think they could be too much use, even if they did believe us."

Shinichi frowned. Okay, so that idea was out. As they went up the stairs, he could faintly hear Kaito's footsteps. They were faster now.

"He's here," Saguru said excitedly, as if he was chasing a small animal rather than a criminal, "He's probably two flights above us. If we hurry, we can catch him before he gets to the roof."

_That's what I'm afraid of, _Shinichi thought. He didn't know what Hakuba had planned, but when he had asked yesterday, the young detective said he would use any means necessary to stop the thief. And Shinichi had no idea of what he was capable of. This was bad. He didn't want his brother to be in any danger. But what could he do?

Suddenly, moved by impulse, Shinichi fake-tripped on a step, and stumbled into Hakuba. Their momentum was instantly ruined and they both fell backwards, rolling down the steps until they reached the landing. But as they slipped, Shinichi mentally kicked himself.

Because he had seen, at the second he began to fall, a small trap laid by Kaito to do exactly this.

The two detectives were in a tangled heap, still dazed by the suddenness of the fall. Above them, they saw Kaitou KID, laughing at them from the top of the flight.

"Well, my dear detectives, it seems you may have upstaged me, though technically you are downstage now," he chortled. "I would go down to see if you're unharmed, but the night is calling. Farewell!" And he pushed at the [conveniently-placed] window at the top of the landing, jumping out into the night sky. Once out, he opened his hang-glider and soared above the heads of the press who were waiting outside the building. And on his back, above the glider, was "Vincent's Starry Night."

Back in the stairwell, Saguru had gotten out from under Shinichi and scowled at his own failure to catch Kaitou KID. Shinichi patted him on the back, noticing the thing that looked frighteningly like a gun which had fallen out of the other's jacket pocket.

"Don't give up. There's always next time, Hakuba. At least he's harmless."

"A thief is a thief. And a criminal is a criminal. I want to catch him and put him in jail, where he belongs."

Shinichi closed his eyes. Not another Kaitou KID-obsessed fanatic.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: So, was it any good? Please review and tell me!<strong>


	12. Martial Arts Club 2

**Parallel: Martial Arts Club**

**(after the events of "No Business Like Snow Business")**

* * *

><p><strong>Martial Arts Club, Image #2<strong>

Kazuha still found it hard to believe that Heiji had actually confessed to her over the break. Whenever she thought about it, her heart would start to beat faster, her breath would come faster, her mind would go blank and Ran or Aoko would ask her if she was feeling okay.

At least she had this club activity, where she could forget about everything else and focus on the next position in the Tai Chi form she was learning. Each month, the girls would pick a new style and explore it, while still keeping up with the others they had learned. Kazuha found Tai Chi very relaxing and calming, especially when Makoto-sempai play soothing music during the practice. The movements felt like water, each easily flowing into the next.

They all stood in front of a mirror, performing the Cloud Hands, when Makoto suddenly stopped. "No, Sonoko, your hands face the other way." Sonoko stopped too and tried to adjust them.

"Like this?" she asked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"No," he reached for her hands and placed them the proper way. "More like this. And don't move your leg until you've shifted all of your weight. Like this," He carefully guided her through the motion.

Kazuha, Ran and Aoko were all watching. Their hands were clasped and they were smiling like girls who knew a secret. All three of them were thinking, _'Aww, that's so cute. I wish [Shinichi/Heiji/Kaito] would do that for me.'_ Sonoko and Makoto, after a minute, abruptly became aware of the attention and froze, then broke apart, blushing.

"S-sorry, Sonoko," Makoto mumbled.

"That's alright," she whispered back. "I don't mind." She didn't like being the center of attention like this, so she quickly came up with a plan to move the concentration in the room. She decided that they had done enough actual club activity for the day.

Ms. Starling came through the door at that time. "Oh, hi everyone!" she cried enthusiastically. "Is everything going okay?"

"Hi Ms. Starling," Aoko said. "We're fine. Though I think we're just about done for today,"

"Hmm, really?" their sponsor cooed. "Well, if that's what you guy-and-gals want, then that's cool with me. I was just coming in here to—ooh! Yes, it's something really interesting!" She sat down onto the smooth polished wooden floor and the club followed her action. "I heard something really cool from Ms. Kisaki today!"

"What?" Ran asked.

"Sometime, either next month or the month after, we're going to have a school dance!" The girls' faces lit up with excitement. "It might be after the school arts festival, but it's still being determined. But doesn't that sound like a fun idea?"

"A casual dance or—" Kazuha began, waiting for Ms. Starling to answer.

"No, no, it's a formal dance! That means dresses for the lovely ladies and suits for the handsome guys! _And_ our charming principal says she might not limit it to just students."

"_Teachers _can come too?" Makoto said.

"Maybe; the idea's still in development. But I think it'll be a lot of fun, right? Well, that's all I can really stay for. I have another thing to get to. Bye-bye!"

The Martial Arts Club members arose as their teacher left. Once she was out the door, Sonoko turned to the other girls with a grin on her face. "So, who would you want to go to the dance with? I know Ran would probably be a lovey-dovey couple with Shinichi Kuroba, but what about you two?"

"What do you mean, we're a couple?" Ran interjected.

"I know you like him. He likes you too, or was that thing at the party just my imagination?" Sonoko was pleased when Ran didn't fight back. "Oh, Kazuha, do you think Heiji can dance?"

Kazuha turned bright red. "W-w-what are you t-talking about? I wouldn't r-really want to go to a d-dance with him. I mean, he's nice and all, but he's still an idiot. I like him, but I'd be embarrassed to be seen at a dance with him."

Sonoko smirked. "Oh, _really_? Well, I guess we'll see when you come to the dance, then." Kazuha stared at the floor, biting at her lip. Sonoko turned her attack onto Aoko now.

"What about you Aoko? Do you have a special someone? A significant other?"

Aoko immediately thought of Kaito, but she would never admit it. She knew he would probably have a hard time taking her seriously enough to ask her out to a dance. "Not really," she murmured. But before the older girl could protest, she added. "And I suppose you and Kyogoku-sempai are together too? You're the biggest lovebirds in the school."

Sonoko knew there were two ways of answering this type of question and she had known such retaliation was inevitable, especially considering their actions before Ms. Starling came into the room. She could try to brush it away, or face it head-on. "That's right! I do hope that Makoto will ask me to the dance, so we can totally outshine everyone else there! We are the hottest couple in the school, and I for one am quite proud of it!" She knew that Makoto was probably looking away with a cute embarrassed face, but that was why she took all of the attention around in these situations. She knew he was a relatively shy person, and she knew it made him feel better when she drew the attention away from him. This wasn't the first time it had happened.

Sonoko laughed triumphantly at her confidence, and the other girls chuckled too.

"What I really want to see," Kazuha said, "Is the teacher couples. I really want to see who they all go with. I want to know if Mr. Akai has someone he likes, and also Ms. Kobayashi's boyfriend, and even if Ms. Starling really does like Mr. Camel."

"Hmm, that really sounds fun," Sonoko mused. "But there's just one person I have a hard time envisioning with a date: Ms. Haibara. She just seems so icy. But that makes me want to see her loosen up even more."

"And Ms. Vineyard," Ran added. "She's not exactly icy, but she is just a little…cold,"

The girls continued to talk as Makoto finally managed to slip out of the door, to escape the awkward girl-gossip. This was the downside to having so many girls in his club.

* * *

><p><em>Kimiko: Kaida~, did you like it? It kind of sets up for another idea, which has been biting at me for a while, along with the "Transfer Student" ones. And that is putting all of the DCMK ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, into a dance! How fun! [especially with Kaito Kuroba somehow invited…] _

_Kaito: Oh, am I going to cause trouble?_

_Kimiko: How did you get here?_

_Kaito: I was looking for Shin-chan. I have another target-idea for a heist! I wanted to tell him about it!_

_Flanagan: Another heist?_

_Kaito: Well that, or a ghost story, or the dance you mentioned. Or even that festival! I could have a lot of fun at any of them ('cause I didn't get to show up in this). Take your pick, dear readers, and let us know in a review! We'll wait a day to see what you want!_


	13. Dance, Dance!

_Kimiko: Wow, the thirteenth chapter written on Friday the 13__th__…_

_Well, since you awesome peeps wanted it, I wrote the dance idea. I spent my entire Physics class working on this, while I should have been doing something more productive, I guess._

_This might be kinda crappy, but I'll do my best._

* * *

><p><strong>Dance, Dance!<strong>

Everyone at Beika High School already knew about the dance in two weeks. They were already wondering what they would wear and who they would go with. The teachers tried to keep the excitement toned down, but even they had a hard time doing so. The anticipated thrill spread through the school like a wildfire.

Today was the day that Ms. Kisaki would finally announce it officially, during homeroom. The teachers were amazed to see unbelievable perfect attendance in their rooms, with all the students arriving on time. Several of them wondered why they didn't do something like this more often. The students were all waiting expectantly for the announcement, because then they could start asking each other out.

At last, the intercom switched on. Every room was silent as the principal's voice echoed through the school. "Good morning, Beika High! This is Ms. Kisaki and I have an important notice for all of you. As you may have heard from rumors, we will be having our first Pre-Festival Dance in two weeks. Both teachers and students may sign up to come, and you may each bring in only one friend from out of our school. But I do not want to hear about anyone fighting over couples, or the dance will be called off. If you have any more questions, please speak to one of your teachers or the administration. Thank you."

The classrooms promptly burst into applause. Several male students who had been waiting for the announcement to ask out their girlfriends began their prepared speeches. The teachers didn't mind the noise too much, as they understood it was a stimulating time for everyone.

* * *

><p>In Ms. Miyano's homeroom, Genta Kojima nervously tapped Ayumi Yoshida on the shoulder. She turned around, smiling as she recognized him. "Genta, isn't this all really exciting?"<p>

He nodded, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat. He was holding something behind his back with one hand, glad that he sat in the corner of the classroom. "A-Ayumi," he stuttered. Even though he and Ayumi had been dating for several months, they still were shy about admitting it to others. But this was the time to tell the whole class that he, Genta Kojima, was the boyfriend of the beautiful Ayumi Yoshida. He brought out the card from behind his back and handed it to her. "This is for you,"

Ayumi opened the envelope and pulled out a gorgeous handmade card. Multicolored sequins were carefully glued in a pattern of vibrant flowers. She admired the card for a moment, and then opened it. She read the contents and her face lit up. "Oh, Genta you wrote this poem for me?" She clutched the card tightly as her friends gathered around to read it.

"Oh, is that a sonnet?"

"Wow, I didn't know you could write poetry, Kojima!"

"That's so sweet!"

Genta struggled to break through the talking, but found his voice and spoke loudly. "Ayumi, would you go to the dance with me?"

"Yes!" Ayumi exclaimed and hugged her boyfriend gleefully.

* * *

><p><em>Later, during a short class break, on the roof…<em>

Sonoko's mind was blank as she followed Makoto up to the roof. Or actually, it was full of Chemistry equations. Ms. Haibara seemed to be drilling it into them even more intensely today. She wasn't sure how much more stuff about the mole they could learn, but if anyone could find more, it was definitely that malevolent teacher with an evil scowl. She wondered how much prettier the teacher could be if she just smiled a bit more.

So, even though she should have seen what was coming, she didn't.

Before she knew what was going on, Makoto had a large bouquet of flowers in his hands and was whispering to her, "Sonoko, do you want to go to the dance together?"

Sonoko's mouth fell open as she berated herself for not preparing for this. She slowly regained her wits and, instead of answering, decided to make up for the pause by kissing him.

Makoto, meanwhile, was very glad that he chose to do this on the roof. His whole class would have swarmed around them both. It made him nervous, but he really wouldn't have minded if it was for Sonoko. But he just wanted her to be able to be out of the spotlight for just a moment so she wouldn't have to force a quick reaction.

And right now, with the unexpected kiss, he couldn't say that he minded her way of making up for her slow reaction.

* * *

><p><em>Later, but still the same day, in the teacher's lounge… [of course]<em>

Shuichi Akai wondered if anyone else was going to come into the room of misfortunes. If anything weird was going to happen, he was sure it would be today, and here. It was where things always seemed to happen, if they weren't anything to do with Kaito Kuroba.

But right now, only Akemi Miyano was in the room with him. He almost wished it was someone else, not because he found her difficult like some of the teachers, but because he found her presence distracting.

He liked her, and he really didn't know how to say so. And this whole dance thing was just too much right now. It was like Valentine's Day, but with more motivation behind the confessions.

Still, he really wanted to at least spend some time with her at the dance. But maybe he would ask later. Right now, he felt like he would just be following the bandwagon by talking to her about the dance. Why did Kisaki have to include teachers anyway? He didn't want to feel like a teenager asking a girl to date him. It would make Akemi, no, Ms. Miyano, feel childish.

Akemi Miyano stole another glance at Akai, and couldn't help but grow a smile. He looked so cute when he was serious. She did crave to speak to him about whether he had any plans for the pre-festival dance, but she was sure that he was busy thinking about something else. Well, she could wait. She'd have to talk to Ai about how to best win a guy's heart, though she wasn't sure how much her sister knew in that topic.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile…<em>

Hiroshi Agasa sighed as he looked through his notes for the lecture today. He still had a few minutes until he had to be ready to teach the next class, but he had dropped his papers when he tripped in the hallway earlier that day. Ms. Haibara had been nearby and helped him pick them up, but he wasn't sure if everything was in order. Maybe she was right and he was scatterbrained. But she did always stay around to help him test his theories and work out his prototype experiments. He thought it was very kind of her.

"Hmm, I think I have everything except the connection to waves," he muttered, flipping through the papers. Suddenly a small white piece of paper fell out. He reached down and picked it up. Strange. He didn't thing he had something this small.

It was about a quarter size of a sheet of notebook paper. He looked at the writing on it. It wasn't his.

_Dr. Agasa: If you're going to that Pre-Festival whatever, then you need someone to watch to make sure you don't fall over or mess with the lights or anything bizarre like that. If you can't find anyone who's willing to babysit a scatterbrained teacher like you, then I suppose I can take the time out of my schedule to make sure you don't do anything you shouldn't at the dance. -Ms. Haibara._

Agasa blinked. Dance?

* * *

><p><em>Several days later, after school…<em>

Kaito thought this was probably the eighth time Akako Koizumi had snuck up on him since Ms. Kisaki's announcement. She seemed to think he was going to ask her to the dance, and kept trying to get closer and closer to him whenever she found him. Right now, he was hiding inside the gym supply shed, hoping that she might give up again and stop freaking him out. He listened carefully.

He heard fast steps approaching and grabbed a piece of sports equipment protectively. The door swung open and Kaito instinctively held up the baseball bat.

Aoko almost ran into the bat. "Kaito! What are you doing, trying to kill me?"

"Oh, it's you. I thought you were that scary lady, about to catch me," Kaito whimpered, acting like the victim.

"Who? And what are you doing in here?"

"I'm hiding from Akako." Kaito whispered, looking around as if just saying her name might let her know that he was hiding there. It might; he never knew! "What are you doing?"

"Hiding from Hakuba. He's been creeping me out lately, telling me he's the best person to go with to the dance."

Kaito thought about their situations for a few seconds. Apparently, according to his inner Shinichi-voice-of-reason, they were both in a similar dilemma. And there was an easy way to fix this. "Hey, Aoko, how about we go to that dance together so that we don't have to worry about the people who've been making us nervous. What do you think? Smart idea, isn't it?" He felt like it was an accomplishment for thinking up such a great solution and didn't expect Aoko to say no.

Aoko felt like her breathing stopped. This was what she was waiting and praying for. Ran had gotten Shinichi, Kazuha had gotten Heiji, and now she might finally get to be with Kaito!

"That's a great idea! I'll tell him I'm already going with someone now, okay Kaito?"

"Yeah! And be sure to wear your pink striped panties under the dress."

Kaito was then reminded of why he had not joked around with this for a while. He fled from the shed like a scared cat as Aoko swung the bokuto she had pulled out of nowhere at him. She chased him for a while down the street, shouting taunts at him all the way.

* * *

><p><em>Skipping to the night of the dance…<em>

Shinichi waited at the door for Kaito to hurry up. "Kaito, I know it doesn't take you that long to get ready! If you aren't down here soon, I'll have to drive Mom's car even faster." That got his attention. There was a squawk from upstairs and Kaito sped down, still tying his necktie.

"I can hardly stand you driving normally," Kaito said, shuddering. "If you can call that normal. It takes years off of my life."

Shinichi chuckled evilly as he got into their mother's car to pick up their friends. But before he began to move, he remembered something important.

"Kaito,"

"Yes, Shin-chan~?"

"Kaito, please listen to me seriously. Please don't do anything to mess with this dance. Ran's been looking forward to this a whole lot and I don't want her to end up covered in another of your pranks. So, please Kaito, I'll help at another of your heists as long as you try to keep yourself under control tonight."

"Okay, Shinichi," Kaito replied, noting how his brother only said _'try'._

* * *

><p><em>Still skipping, to the actual dance…<em>

Eri Kisaki was very pleased with how many students and teachers were coming. She was just going to stay at the front door, but she was already enjoying herself. Just watching all of the people who made up her wonderful Beika High School walk through the door dressed in handsome suits and beautiful gowns was a great experience in itself.

The ballroom was also stunning. She had watched it being decorated, but it was truly magnificent now. As the people would walk through the entrance, they passed under a gate made to look like a metal gate, along a red carpet, past the tables, to the large dance floor. There were glistening colored lights and chandeliers all throughout the room to give a special, intimate atmosphere. White balloons almost crept along the floor while being gently blown by the vents. Music was already playing and lights were flashing from several different places in the large room.

About three dozen people were already in there now, and more were coming. She had before now seen Ms. Starling walk in with Mr. Camel, Ms. Haibara with Dr. Agasa, and surprisingly Mr. Akai with Ms. Miyano. She had wondered if these were just friendly pairs as she waved them in.

A large group was coming in now. She smiled again and welcomed them in. Ms. Kisaki was starting to have to speak up now, over the music which seemed to get louder and louder…

Kaito led the way through the gate with Aoko at his side. Behind him were Shinichi and Ran, Heiji and Kazuha, Makoto and Sonoko, Genta and Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Eisuke, and Hakuba. Shinichi had asked Akako if she would come too, but she had declined when she heard of Kaito's decision of a date. He thought the older girl might be sulking, but it was her choice.

The group looked around in wonder at the décor inside. They also noticed the interesting couples around the room.

"Look, there's Mr. and Mrs. Kudo!" Kazuha said, pointing over to a table where some of the teachers were talking animatedly. "I wonder how she got him out of his libraries. I hear he has another one at home, even though he spends so much time at the school one!"

The others laughed. They met a few more friends, ate some of the food, and began dancing to the music. They all got into their favorite songs: complex ones, slower ones and just plain fun ones. Sometimes Kaito would be the center of attention, other times, Sonoko and Makoto would, forgetting about everything else in their intense moment of joy at being together.

This felt like the best night of their lives.

A little over two hours later, as everyone started to feel tired and some people moved off the dance floor, the songs started to become increasingly slow and romantic. Pairs were locked in intimate embraces, slowly swaying to the beat of the love melodies. While sitting at a table with most of the others, Kaito watched Shinichi and Ran on the floor and thought about how happy they both looked.

They were the only ones who were really deep in the moment right now. Those two would probably be dancing all night and they would never notice anything else. It was so cute, Kaito thought to himself, how they were so wrapped up with each other.

That meant that his time to act was now.

Kaito had paid attention to Shinichi's words. He had tried to keep himself under control. But he couldn't help it. Playing for a crowd was what he lived for. And besides, it wasn't like no one was going to enjoy it. When no one was watching, he had set up a very elaborate trick. Now, it was time to set it in motion.

He furtively pressed a button on a small remote and several things happened at once. Bubble machines began to drop a round, hollow column of thousands of bubbles from the ceiling, perfectly framing the area where Ran and Shinichi were. And, also from the ceiling, doves and pigeons descended and began flying at the people. There were small pops from around the room and odd flashes of light.

Of course, everyone in the room worried that it was another "mysterious" prank, and forgot about the dance instantly to make a mad dash for the door, afraid of what would happen next. Kaito joined in this, smirking to himself as he took one last look at the one couple that hadn't noticed anything.

"Have fun together, you two," he whispered, but it was lost in the murmuring crowd.

And, hidden by the bubble-curtain, as the song merged into another one, Shinichi stopped moving with Ran. She looked up, her eyes mirroring the reflections of the light-filled bubbles still raining from the curtains. They hardly noticed their situation as they gazed at each other, waiting for a word or a motion to break their emotional vigil.

Finally, it was Shinichi. "Ran," he breathed. "I love you. And I'm so glad I can spend this time with you."

Ran smiled shyly. "I love you too, Shinichi. I don't want this night to end."

"It doesn't matter if it ends," Shinichi said. "Because the sun will come up tomorrow, and then later, the moon and stars will come out too. And even if we're not at a dance, it doesn't mean we can't still love the time we have together."

"Thank you Shinichi," Ran said, about to lay her head on his shoulder, but he shifted his hands. One was gently holding her soft hand in his own. The other tilted her head back to face him. Their eyes locked again, as if there was nothing else in the world. And, slowly, their faces moved closer to each other. She could smell the carnation on his suit and he could hear the whisper of her hair in the faint breeze from the vent over the sweet music.

'_Hold me close and hold me fast, the magic spell you cast, this is, La Vie en Rose…" _

The world seemed to stop as their lips met. Shinichi's hands still held Ran softly, and she still seemed to hang from his presence. But as they kissed, their feelings resonated with each other, and they felt like there was nothing in existence but this.

* * *

><p><em>Outside…<em>

Apart from Shinichi Kuroba and Ran Mouri, the entirety of the turnout for the dance was out on the grassy lawn outside the building that housed the ballroom. They were all watching one of the most spectacular meteor showers Japan had experienced for a while, and it was worth missing the rest of the dance for it.

Kaito leaned against the building, pleased. He couldn't have finished the night any better. When he had heard about this, he thought it would be perfect for the end of the dance. He looked up as he saw a particularly large streak shoot across the sky and heard the whole mass of people gasp in awe at this.

Apparently, some famous comet called the Volley something was also supposed to pass by. Kaito felt like he had heard the name somewhere, but decided it most likely was just his imagination. It didn't matter anyway. This display was just for these people to enjoy. All of them had probably forgotten about the prank. Which was a good thing, because it meant Shinichi wouldn't know about it.

"Hmm, Shin-chan," Kaito mused. "I wonder how he's doing right now…"

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I hope this was still good. I liked the idea, but I'm just hoping I didn't rush it…I actually had this idea biting at me for over a week, but I never really wrote any of it down until today.<strong>

**Flanagan: Well, I think it was okay. It's one of your longest Beika High chapters.  
><strong>

**Kimiko: But after this, I'm going to have to start getting ready for my exams. So that means that if I'm updating, I'm probably neglecting my studying.**

**Flanagan: You can handle both, I think. And once you're done, you can start up again. Maybe even start a new fic.**

**Kimiko: Ooo! That sounds fun! All right, that's enough of my moping around. I wanted to mention that I had Genta write a sonnet because I'm in love with them right now. And the song is part of La Vie en Rose, an old song, but one of my favorite love songs (it doens't have to be new to be good, right). I'll see what I get inspired to write after this chapter. This one was mostly a one-timer. I don't intend to do another dance. But I guess I can toss this in at the end:**

Omake**: Wait a minute…**

Shinichi and Ran suddenly realized how quiet it was in the room. They looked around and were surprised to see a film of bubbles falling around them. Confused, they walked through it and stared wide-eyed around the room.

It was empty. The sweet music still played and the lights still shone romantically, but the room was completely empty of anyone except them. They were pretty sure they hadn't missed the end of the dance.

"Where is everyone?" Ran asked the void.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko and Flanagan: Review, please!<strong>


	14. Detective Club 2, part 1

_Kimiko: Sorry for the wait. I meant to write this sooner, but oh well, school happens. (Disclaimer—DC/MK belongs to Gosho Aoyama. I'm just here as a deprived fan.)_

_*If I get any geography wrong, then I really don't mean it.*_

**Parallel: Detective Club**

* * *

><p><strong>Case #2, the Vacation Resort Murder Mystery (part 1)<strong>

Once again, the Detective Club's clubroom was silent. Heiji and Shinichi had realized it would be like this often, so they had brought in an old bookshelf and stocked it with mystery books. Although, this bookshelf soon turned into a competition of which mystery writer's books were best, or which deserved to be the same shelf as another. The freshmen brought in their own favorites, but it was between their junior co-presidents that the real contest was between.

But now, the club was sitting silently around the table, reading the mystery books while occasionally writing things down on the forms Shinichi passed out. He had printed up a bunch of forms on which the amateur detectives could log suspects, key pieces of evidence, times and other details while reading mystery stories, to see if their deductions matched the detective in the book. Everyone except Eisuke was doing this now.

The silence continued for a few minutes when suddenly the door banged open. All of the students couldn't help but jump a little at the intrusion. Shaken out of their reading daze, they noticed Eisuke at the door. He had an envelope in his hand and a grin on his face.

"Guys, you'll never guess what!" he exclaimed. "I won a contest and the grand prize is a family trip to the Yamanouchi Hot Springs in Nagano!"

In the speechlessness after this sudden proclamation, Heiji thought to himself, _'You're right. We never guessed what because you never gave us time to guess what.'_ But he didn't voice this because the rest of the club finally got over their surprise and were congratulating their friend.

"That's so cool, Hondou!" Ayumi said happily. "Are you going with your family?"

"Um, no," Eisuke answered. "They're in America and my older sister can't leave her job right now."

"Oh, that's too bad," Mitsuhiko said. "Then who—"

"It's for up to six people," Eisuke cut him off. "And I wanted to have you guys come along!"

"Are you sure?" Genta asked.

"Yeah! I mean, you guys are my best friends! Why wouldn't I go with you guys? My sister Hidemi says it's fine with her. So, what do you say?"

Unsurprisingly, the vote was unanimous. During the next weekend, they would go to Nagano for a three day, two night vacation. It definitely was better than arguing over whether Doyle, Queen, Christie, Rampo or Sayers was the best at writing mysteries.

* * *

><p>"<em>Aww~, Shinichi, you're going away? You're going to leave me?"<em>

"_Oh come on, Mr. Drama King. It's only for three days. It's not like I'm moving away forever."_

"_But who's going to keep an eye on you? You have such terrible luck when you're not around me. You might get in trouble, or run into something dangerous!"_

"_What are you implying? I'm cursed or something? That's utter nonsense. And I know how to take care of myself, Kaito! I don't need you watching me wherever I go."_

"_Oh, so you don't like me anymore?"_

"_What are you, a little kid?"_

"_No, I'm Kaitou KI—"_

"_Don't say it! You don't need to make stupid puns like that all the time."_

"_I'm just making up for the time you won't be here. I bet you'll be all serious, even when you're supposed to be relaxing."_

"_I can relax."_

"_Hmm…Well, I'll just have to satisfy myself by calling you every day. And so that you don't turn off your phone, I'll only call in the evenings, okay?"_

"…_Fine."_

"_Yay!"_

* * *

><p>The train ride to Nagano was long, but not boring at all. The first half was taken up by the entire club trying to make up a schedule. Each person wanted to do something that seemed to overlap what another wanted. Ayumi was most interested in going through shops in the town. Genta had a list of restaurants he wanted to visit. Eisuke thought that the hot springs resort would have plenty of activities available for tourists and wanted to go with the flow once they got there. Mitsuhiko's priority was doing something that could let them bond more as a club, like a hike along a trail. And whenever Heiji or Shinichi, the compromisers, would pick a side, the other would pick the opposite. And they would debate.<p>

After finally deciding on a vague course of actions, the second half of the trip consisted of either playing card games or looking out of the window. Shinichi, thanks to his brother, knew just about every card game there was (and how to spot cheating, again thanks to Kaito). He taught them some obscure games with even more obscure rules for a few hours until they finally heard an announcement that they had arrived in Nagano.

The group wasted no time checking into their resort. Once they had deposited their bags in their rooms, they managed to agree that they wanted to go through the Yudanaka hot springs town first.

Ayumi and Genta were thrilled. As soon as they left the resort, they immediately took the lead, pointing out where they thought the best places to start were. For the most part, the others followed, though Shinichi almost got separated when they paused by a bookstore.

After about three hours of touring the town, the Detective Club finally stopped and decided it was time to eat. Eisuke found a restaurant he thought would be best for everyone and they all entered.

Halfway through the meal, Shinichi and Heiji heard a man's voice from a table nearby.

"I'm telling you, Uehara, there has to be something they're not telling us. I bet the sister knows something. She and the best friend are hiding something from us, I'm sure."

"But what about the couple, Kan-chan?" This was a woman speaking. "And remember, they're _all_ suspects; you can't just single out one or two and say they're suspicious."

"I'm not singling them out. I just think they know more about the woman's murder than they're telling us. Or maybe the situation before the murder."

_Murder._ Heiji and Shinichi both looked straight at each other and it didn't even occur to Shinichi that Kaito had been right about bad things happening around him. A moment of mutual agreement passed between the two boys before they simultaneously got up and walked over to the table where the man and woman were sitting. The rest of their club hardly noticed. They were busy either discussing the food or the things they thought were coolest in the town.

"I'm sorry," Heiji said to the two people. "I couldn't help but overhear you. Did you say murder?"

"Yes," the man replied, looking the teens over. He himself was a sight to behold: he had dark skin like Heiji and an X-shaped scar over one eye. The woman was not as striking, but still pretty: with black hair pinned up and a lovely yet melancholy face. The man explained, "I'm a police inspector and I'm working on a case right now. Did I bother you?"

"No, not at all," Shinichi said. "I guess we were wondering if we could come along with you."

"Why would you want to investigate a crime?" The woman asked, frowning.

"I'm sorry. I haven't introduced us. We're kind of like amateur detectives. I'm Shinichi Kuroba and this is Heiji Hattori. We just want to know if we can be of any help."

"Even though we're students, we're still pretty good!" Heiji added.

The scarred man narrowed his one eye. "Kuroba? Were you that kid who disabled the bomb during the Tokyo Police terrorist situation?"

Shinichi nodded. This could significantly help their cause. The man looked like he was actually willing to agree.

"So, you say you two are detectives? We'll see through this case, I suppose."

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I'll update this as soon as possible. This was the intro part of the mystery. I'll introduce more of it in the next chapter. Oh, and just so you know, this is my first attempt at writing a mystery, so I'm not sure how good it'll be. If I'm doing something wrong, you can PM me, or write it in a review.<strong>


	15. Detective Club 2, part 2

_Kimiko: Writing a mystery is a lot harder than I thought. Aoyama has my utmost respect for all the hard work he goes through. This will probably be really bad…_

**Parallel: Detective Club**

* * *

><p><strong>Case #2, the Vacation Resort Murder Mystery (part 2)<strong>

Shinichi and Heiji were ecstatic, but they tried not to let it show. "You'll let us help?" Heiji asked.

"Sure, as long as you don't mind," the man said, with a grim smile. "I'd be glad to have two extra minds on this, because it's a pretty nasty case."

"Not enough evidence?" Shinichi assumed, crossing his arms.

"That and the suspects are all really tricky," he replied. "Here, sit down and I'll tell you the details."

Heiji and Shinichi sat at the two empty seats and waited for the man to start. The woman spoke first, however. "We haven't told you our names either. This is Kansuke Yamato, an Inspector for Nagano Prefecture and I'm Yui Uehara. I'm assisting him on this case."

"It's nice to meet you," Shinichi said, bowing his head a little.

"Well, I can tell you more about the things we know when we go back to the scene of the crime." Yamato pulled his notebook out of his chest pocket, opening to a page. "But here's the basics of what happened: This morning, a Miss Umeko Minami was found murdered in the closet of her personal room at her business, a small resort hotel called _Olympia_. The weapon, a six-inch knife, was still in her body and had no fingerprints on it. If you want, I'll show a picture later. Time of death was estimated to be between midnight and two o'clock in the morning."

Uehara interjected, "Apparently, Miss Minami was having a celebration with four of her friends during the time she was killed."

"Could you describe them?" Shinichi asked.

"Did one of those friends find her body?" Heiji asked at almost the same time.

The two adults raised their eyebrows. Yamato continued. "Minami was found at nine o'clock by her younger sister Youko Minami, after the guests had left. He sister was coming to her place by train accompanied by her fiancé, Shouta Inoue, who both have solid alibis. As for the rest, we have some information, but I feel like they're still hiding crucial facts from us."

Uehara read from her own notebook. "Ryuu Mizushima, a company employee. Aki Mizushima, his wife. Noburu Honda, a university student. Junko Yamaguchi, a middle-school teacher. They're all old friends of Minami, especially Yamaguchi. The younger sister knows all of them because Minami would spend a lot of time with them while she was in college. She gave us some information, and we got some more from questioning them at the station about an hour ago."

"Could you tell us that as we're going to the scene of the crime?" Heiji pressed.

"Yes," Yamato said. "We'll have to go there anyway to check if their stories match up. I'm sure that there's something that'll give us more of a clue. We had to leave a little earlier than I wanted before because all of the suspects had been gathered at the station." He got up to leave. Uehara and Heiji also rose. Shinichi started to follow them, but paused.

"What's up?" Heiji asked.

"What about the others?" Shinichi murmured, looking in the direction of Eisuke, Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko. "We can't just leave them."

Heiji pursed his lips. "But they really wanted to have this vacation. We'll just say we're going somewhere and they should have fun without us."

"Ditching your friends?" Uehara asked with a knowing smile.

"Sort of," Shinichi said, watching as Heiji walked over to the table and whispered in Genta's ear. "But I guess it's for their own good. Even though they're in our Detective Club at school, I don't think they'd be ready to see a dead body."

"And you two are?" Yamato said, supporting himself on his crutch. "What kind of upbringing did you have?"

"Well, he's been my best friend for a long time." Shinichi explained, starting to walk outside with the two detectives. "His dad is one of the superintendents at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Sometimes, when his dad picked us up from our games and such, he would stop at some places where crimes had been committed, even though he didn't really have to. He didn't mind letting us come in with him, as long as we didn't get in the way. After a while of this, we kind of picked up how to really analyze a crime scene. It doesn't get to us as much as it does others, though I still think murder is awful."

The officers nodded slowly. Tokyo did get quite a lot of crime, though it handled it well. If these two teenagers had seen a lot, and even helped with some, they would be helpful in this case. At least, they might see something Yamato and Uehara might overlook.

Now outside, they waited patiently by a dark blue car for Heiji to come out.

* * *

><p>"All of them were friends from college." Uehara clarified as she drove. "Honda was younger than them, and he's in his last year at his university right now. Youko Minami knew them from when her sister would take her along on vacations. They were getting together to celebrate the success of Minami's new business. She started it last year and it's really boomed here. You'll see it when we get there."<p>

Yamato took out his notebook again. "All right, Mr. Mizushima, age 24, and Mrs. Mizushima, age 23. They say they were asleep at the time of the murder. They were excited for their friend Minami and her business and even brought her a present. They said they went to sleep at ten o'clock because they didn't want to stay up too late, since they wanted to go into town in the morning. They wanted to visit some famous shop here. The Mizushimas say they woke up at seven-thirty, looked for their host for a while, and when they didn't find her, they just left around eight."

"Next is Noburu Honda, age 22. He says he didn't really want to come because of his workload at the university, but Minami insisted. He slept when he first arrived because of a long drive to get here, so he stayed up watching a television program with Minami and Yamaguchi, though he says Minami left in the middle of it, a little before midnight. But during that time, he says he went to the bathroom, which was in the opposite direction of Minami's room, so he says he couldn't have known what happened to Minami. Yamaguchi walked with him for a ways to get to the kitchen to make a snack, and says she can prove his alibi."

"How?" Heiji asked.

Uehara sighed. "You'll see the layout when we get there, and we'll explain it, since it's kind of complicated. But basically, he couldn't have gotten back to the room without going past the door, which she says was open the whole time. Still, there are a lot of loose ends."

Shinichi and Heiji could both hear the doubt in Uehara's voice. They suspected Yamato also was suspicious of this part. "We'll help you sort these things out." Heiji promised. The detectives nodded absently, still thinking of the patchy details.

But there were still other things the teens wanted to know. "Were they all upset when they heard the news?" Shinichi asked.

"Yes." Yamato replied. "Yamaguchi was the most emotional. The Mizushimas were both shocked as well, and Honda demanded that we find the killer. But still, it doesn't give us much of a clue as to who it is."

"It might," Shinichi whispered to himself.

* * *

><p><em>Before they enter the resort hotel…<em>

_.._

"_Kaito, why did you have to call me right now? It's not evening yet."_

"_I had a feeling. What are you doing right now, Shin-chan?"_

"_Um, I'm checking out something with Heiji,"_

"…_Is it a crime?"_

"_What? How did you come to that conclusion?"_

"_If you were in any other situation, you would keep sounding bored. You sounded like you were excited about whatever you're doing, but trying to hide it. Besides, you didn't say 'the club,' you said 'Heiji,' and that says you left them for some reason. Probably you came across a mystery that you couldn't help but investigate."_

"_How are you so good at this?"_

"_You taught me! [sigh] Shinichi, you haven't even been away from me for a whole day, and already you've run into a crime? What type is it?"_

"…_Murder."_

"_What!"_

"_Oh, please. It's not like this stuff happens all the time. And it didn't happen right in front of me. It's just coincidence that I heard the detectives talking about it."_

"_Shinichi, Shinichi. I'm going to have to make you a Kaito-good-luck charm that you can take around with you everywhere so nothing bad happens."_

"_I don't believe in lucky charms."_

"_That doesn't matter. I'll believe in it for you."_

"_How would you make it work?"_

"_Oh, I'll ask around. I think that scary Akako person might know how to make a good luck charm."_

"_If you can ask her. You're scared of her, or have you gotten over that?"_

"_I'll ask Aoko to help me talk to her."_

"_Coward,"_

"_You just don't know how scary she can be, Shin-chan! I'm sure that she's going to possess me someday when you're not around to save me! Don't you ever worry about your brother, Shin-chan~?"_

"_I do but I think there's no hope for him. I'm sure you'll be fine."_

"_Hmm. What about you? Don't you dare get hurt by anyone scary over there!"_

"_I'll take care of myself."_

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: Really, Aoyama does a much better job than me at writing mysteries.<strong>

**Flanagan: Though he adds visual aids.**

**Kimiko: True. And I can't draw very well. But I can write to the best of my ability! Tell me what you think of this, please!**


	16. Detective Club 2, part 3

_Kimiko: I am such a horrible human being for making you wait. A contemptible human with writer's block…_

**Parallel: Detective Club**

* * *

><p><strong>Case #2, the Vacation Resort Murder Mystery (part 3)<strong>

Shinichi and Heiji now faced the building. It was on a fairly large piece of property, which had been remarkably designed to give the perfect aesthetic feel of a mountain resort. There was an older atmosphere to the grounds and the building itself, making it hard to believe that the place was only a few years old. The natural elements combined with the artificial and man-made to allow the visitors to feel as though they were walking into a fresh environment that had been carefully cultured by humans, made so that everything was as beautiful as possible.

The actual resort hotel was large, but not large enough to claim the focus of the land. It was painted in shades of deep gray and light brown, almost becoming a part of the landscape, but still standing out as an impressive feat of architecture. Most of the rooms were evidently on the bottom floor, but there was an upper level that was much smaller. This top to the building was situated almost exactly over the center of the lower section, thereby balancing splendidly and giving off a welcoming, relaxing vacation spot.

It was hard to imagine such a beautiful place as the site of a murder.

Heiji and Shinichi followed Yamato and Uehara into the entrance. They found themselves in a comfortable reception area which had a desk for an attendant and several couches for waiting. There were also a few plants placed in regular intervals through the room. At the far end of the room, a hallway continued to the left. Going right would either lead to a doorway, a flight of stairs or another hallway that went between them.

"We'll show you the room where the hostess was found," Uehara was saying as they walked on through the empty, silent hotel. "Then you can look over her guests' rooms, along with the places they say they were last night." They turned right and walked up the stairs, Yamato taking a slightly longer time because of his crutch. Once at the top of the stairs, they found themselves in another hallway lined with windows viewing the outside. There were three doors visible along this side of the building.

"There are seven bedrooms on the top level," Uehara continued. "And thirteen rooms on the bottom, not counting the reception hall, dining room, kitchen, event room, storage room, office and extra bathroom. You can see those later."

Yamato walked up to the nearest door, the one close to their right. "This is where Minami was staying." He opened the door. The room had all of the basic needs, plus some extra luxuries, but it kept to the same theme of the rest of the place. There was a window in the corner of the room that looked out to a small courtyard in the center of the building. Other rooms could be seen through it. Along the left side of the room were two doors, presumably the ones to the closet and bathroom.

Yamato opened the closet door. Tape marked a distinctive human shape. There weren't any clothes hanging up to disguise the cold atmosphere in the closet that came from housing a murder victim. A dark stain covered the floor.

Heiji and Shinichi leaned in closer, but there were really no clues to be found. Shinichi looked back. "What position was she found in?"

"She was on her knees and leaning against the back wall." Uehara explained. "Her hands were at her sides, and they were empty. Like we said, the knife was still in her body, in her heart. We found a cut-up plastic trash bag that we guess was used to keep blood from getting on the killer. Still no fingerprints, so there's probably still a pair of missing gloves. The bag was tossed through that window, into the courtyard."

"And forensics hasn't come up with any clues from any struggle she may or may not have had." Yamato added grimly. "I don't think she put up much of one at all. That's why I'm sure it was someone she knew. Besides, nothing was found missing."

"So it was over a grudge?" Heiji mused. It made sense. If the killer had used gloves and the bag, then this was obviously a premeditated murder. One of the guests must have decided to bring the weapon and equipment to kill Umeko Minami. Still, it made little sense to just leave the knife…

"It's hard to ask the suspects that," the inspector sighed, frowning. "Unless they tell us what issues the others had with Minami. People are more willing to talk about the ill feelings of their acquaintances than about their own."

Shinichi and Heiji nodded. They could work on that later. Right now, they wanted to find out what they could from any evidence left behind. Inanimate objects didn't really lie, as humans did. Uehara left to look over something downstairs, but Yamato stayed to watch them. Shinichi and Heiji each went over the room on their own tracks, occasionally bumping into each other. They found just what the police had found earlier: Minami's clothes, books, accessories, and other personal items.

Heiji was looking over another book when Shinichi announced that they were ready to go to the next room. Yamato went to the next door to the left, the larger one that was used by the Mizushima couple. It was similar, but had three windows looking out onto the courtyard below.

"Where are all of the guests right now?" Heiji asked as Shinichi began to search the room.

"They're spending time in town." Yamato answered. "They didn't want to be at the resort at the moment. It gives the police a chance to try to check everything over before they destroy any evidence, at least."

Heiji nodded and began his own search. They didn't discover very much here, but they did come up with some questions. Shinichi pressed some buttons on the alarm clock to reveal the settings as Heiji said, "If they were so close to Minami's room, wouldn't they have heard her scream, or at least struggle."

All three occupants of the room looked again at how the bed was right up against the wall. Based on the architecture of the building, the closet would be almost directly on the other side. Yamato shook his head.

"I'd like to know that too. No matter how heavy a sleeper a person is, I would think they might at least hear someone being killed. I can understand how Honda and Yamaguchi downstairs might not hear. But as for the Mizushimas, I think that makes them pretty suspicious. We only have their word that they were in bed the whole time."

The three moved to the third room along the straight hallway, before the sharp left at the end that led to two more rooms, just like the other side. The upper rooms were shaped in a "C" made up of seven rooms. They were framed around the courtyard, and allowed the southern sun to shine through on the open side. These three rooms that ran along the staircase from the bottom floor and the room on the other side of Minami's corner room were being used by the guests. All of the other rooms were unoccupied. The rooms downstairs consisted of six rooms around the courtyard, and a hallway separating them and the rest of the rooms. Two rooms were situated on the left side of the reception hall. Three were on the southern side of the building, and the remaining two made up the far side of the resort. These last two were the only ones without windows, as an office and a storage room, which connected to the hallway past the stairs, were on the side where the windows would have been. This hallway went all the way back to the back of the hotel and included the doors to the dining room, event room, kitchen and extra bathroom.

The third room was being used by Honda. Once again, Heiji and Shinichi carefully wandered all over the place for any hints of a clue. As Shinichi looked under the bed, Heiji began to open the window. Suddenly Heiji jumped. His phone had started to vibrate.

"Uh, excuse me," he muttered and opened it up, walking away from the window. "Hello? Oh, hi, Yoshida. How are you guys doing? Huh? Us? Well, we're just doing, um, something. Nothing special, really. No, you guys go ahead. We're fine not going. Really, I mean it. We'd probably think it was boring anyway! I-I don't mean it like that! No, don't—" He stopped abruptly and looked sadly at the phone.

Shinichi walked up to him and patted his shoulder. "It's okay, we can explain everything later."

Heiji closed his eyes tightly. "I don't want to be the one who tells them we ran off to investigate something without them, though."

* * *

><p>The fourth room, Yamaguchi's, was also suspiciously void of any incriminating evidence. The two teenagers moved downstairs. The first room after the stairs was the dining room, which had nothing, so they left it soon. Next was the event room, which was full of couches and a rather large television screen. Minami, Yamaguchi and Honda had been watching television together when Minami disappeared before midnight. All that was left in the room were some crumbs from the snacks.<p>

Shinichi and Heiji entered the kitchen next. Its double doors were as close as possible to the door of the event room. When they pushed on one door, the other one strangely opened outwards. It stayed in this position, and the lack of a spring kept it from shutting automatically. Shinichi and Heiji were both perplexed by this.

"Don't kitchen doors usually open outwards?" Shinichi asked.

Heiji played with the doors for a few moments. If one door was pushed the other would open as if it were pulled and vice versa. It was actually quite intriguing. He wondered how it was designed. Eventually he and Shinichi began their search again. The small industrial kitchen was well-equipped and clean. Shinichi looked at a large block wherein about two dozen knives of different sizes were safely put.

"I don't suppose the knife was from this kitchen," he muttered.

"No," Uehara said, coming into the room behind Yamato. "It _was_ a kitchen utility knife, but this kitchen wasn't missing any of its knives. The make didn't match the ones here anyway."

Heiji frowned when he opened the refrigerator. It was almost full of food. "How much time did Yamaguchi say she spent on making snacks? Cause there's plenty of snacks in here."

He shot a look to Shinichi. "Don't jump to conclusions yet," the other young detective warned. "We still have more of the place to check." Heiji sighed and followed the other out of the kitchen, while Uehara and Yamato looked curiously at each other.

"High school detectives," she said, shaking her head in amazement, "What next? High school spies? High school talk-show hosts?"

* * *

><p><em>Back in Beika…<em>

Kaito stared intensely at his phone as if it would start talking to inform him on how his brother was doing. He didn't have a good feeling about this whole matter with investigating a murder. There was just some feeling in the back of his mind that told him something bad might happen. And knowing Shinichi's luck, it would happen to him.

He had thought a vacation with friends would help Shinichi to relax and be more like a teenager. Kaito knew that his twin was constantly acting too mature and serious. And this sort of trip would have really helped, even if Shinichi spent the whole time reading. Kaito thought that Shinichi would at least restrain himself, for the sake of his friends. He was sure that the underclassmen club members would rather have fun in a normal way than chase criminals. Or would they? Now that he thought about it, Kaito wasn't too sure anymore.

But did they know?

Well, knowing Shinichi and Heiji, the two presidents had probably slipped out while the rest of the club was busy, either intentionally or accidentally. Well, as long as Heiji was around, maybe Shinichi would be safe.

Maybe.

Kaito moaned and dropped his head onto the table where he was sitting.

"Shin-chan, why do you have to be such an idiot? And you call me an idiot. Seriously."

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: Okay, I know you're probably really annoyed at me. I felt so bad. The past few days, I had all of my notes next to me but all I could do was sit at the computer and write random shitty stuff. It sucked, big time. I felt awful. I wanted to beat myself to a pulp, but then I wouldn't be able to write once I got over the writer's block…<strong>

**Anyway, if I could draw, I'd draw up a picture of the layout of the resort. I'll explain more of it later, but if you don't understand this at all, then I guess I can either try to write better, or you might just have to wait until the conclusion (which I want to get out ASAP!)**

**And just so you know, this type of resort is exactly the kind of thing I want to open someday. I'll go bankrupt doing so, but it's my dream. And now I've used the idea as a premise for a murder. Life is great isn't it?**

**Thanks for reading and please tell me what you thought!**

**Flanagan: By the way, we're going to try to start writing longer chapters. Kimiko's been feeling conscious that the chapters are short compared to others, even though she does update relatively quickly. The wait for this one was not intentional at all.**


	17. Detective Club 2, part 4

**Parallel: Detective Club**

* * *

><p><strong>Case #2, the Vacation Resort Murder Mystery (part 4)<strong>

"Well, I think that's the most we can get out of the actual resort," Shinichi announced after he and Heiji finally left the storage room. They had checked the bathroom and found a magazine from the pile in the event room, presumably forgotten by Honda from the previous night. They had even entered the inner courtyard, hoping to find anything else accidentally tossed out by the murderer, but nothing came up.

Heiji agreed and turned to face the police detectives. "Can we talk with the suspects soon?"

Uehara and Yamato glanced at each other for a moment. "We already spoke with them earlier today, but I suppose it couldn't hurt too much," Uehara began.

"I think it'd be better if we split up to do that," Yamato added. "They should be more likely to talk about more personal matters concerning Minami if the questions are coming from only one adult and a teenager. Is that okay with you?" **[AN: Scooby-Doo time; split up and look for clues!]**

Shinichi and Heiji both nodded. "Me and Miss Uehara will go to the suspects," Heiji said, "And Kuroba and the Inspector can see if they can get more from the little sister. Every little bit helps."

"But we'd better hurry with all of this," Shinichi said, looking outside at the sun in the sky. "There are only a few hours until it gets dark, and we'll have to wait until morning to continue. And we still have to convince Eisuke and the others that we're not skipping out on the hot springs. I guess I can do that while you see if you can get a solid lead on those things we found."

Heiji smiled and straightened his ball cap, a personal sign between the two of them that he knew what he was about to do, and set off with Uehara. Shinichi said to Yamato, "Do you think you could get Miss Youko Minami to come here?"

Yamato paused before he reached for his cell phone. He made the call and then asked, "Do you already have an idea of who did it? You and the other kid mentioned that you found some things in the rooms."

"Oh, that," Shinichi muttered. He bit his lip, thinking of a way to say it as he and the Inspector sat down on one of the couches in the event room. "Well, it's more like we found some things that seemed out of place. Or there were things that were missing from their rooms, or the places they were at during the murder, that should have been there. For example, we noticed that there were plenty of pre-made snacks in the refrigerator. Yamaguchi could have really wanted to make something fresh, or she might not have known just how much was in the refrigerator already. But still, it's one thing Hattori is going to ask her, indirectly, of course."

"What else?" Yamato asked curiously. They had plenty of time before Youko Minami arrived and he wanted to know more about the high school detectives' reasoning. He might be able to hear more of it later, when the case was finished, because he had a feeling that having them on the case would definitely improve their chances of solving it. "The others are also missing parts of their claimed alibis, right? And do you think the sister may have been able to somehow do it? Or could it have been someone else?"

Shinichi sighed, still sorting things out in his own mind. "I'm sure our culprit is someone among the four suspects: the Mizushimas, Honda and Yamaguchi. It definitely wasn't suicide and I really don't believe Youko Minami or Shouta Inoue could have done it. As long as you've checked with their alibi, which I think is hard to fabricate, it couldn't have been either of them. And yes, Hattori does have individual questions for all of them. There are also questions that he's going to ask all of them, to see who told Minami about that thing we found…"

* * *

><p><em>Later, at a café in the city, <em>

"I'm telling you, I'll never be able to forgive the rotten person who killed her!" Noburu Honda exclaimed, pounding his fist on the table at the café. Heiji had allowed him to rant for a while before asking questions.

"Do you think it might have been one of her friends who were at the resort?"

"One of…" Honda's eyes lit up. "Of course! I'm sure it was either Ryuu or Aki! I mean, it's really hard to believe that they were just sleeping peacefully in their room while Umeko was being killed right past the wall. Can you believe it? I can't! It must be them! Besides, they have a motive!"

"Really?" Uehara asked.

"Yeah, listen: when we were all in college together, Umeko used to date Ryuu. But then he fell in love with Aki and Umeko couldn't take it well. There were a lot of unresolved issued between them, especially the girls, and it almost ruined their friendship. I still don't think Umeko has quite forgiven Aki for all of that drama back in college. You know, it's a woman scorned, right? And Ryuu is really protective of how Aki feels. I wouldn't put it past them to work together."

"What about Yamaguchi?" Heiji asked casually.

Honda blinked. "Wasn't she in the kitchen? She didn't have time. And she loved Umeko like a sister."

Heiji sighed. "I guess so." He waited for Honda's mind to clear a little, and then asked his next question. "Actually, I was wondering something. Since this was the first time in a while that you guys have seen each other, were you planning something special for them on your own, or at least for Minami?"

"Well, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't do that?"

* * *

><p><em>Still later, at a coffee house,<em>

Junko Yamaguchi stared at her coffee cup. "I think I know what you're going to ask me about. I'll tell you and I'll try not to get too overemotional. Today has been a hard day for me." She took a deep breath and looked them in the eyes. "I did have my own grudge against Umeko. I was pretty jealous of how successful her _Olympia _was. Because you see, I'm in debt from college loans and being a teacher doesn't pay as much as I was hoping for. I almost wished some misfortune would happen to her to even the playing field, just a little. But when I heard that she had been killed, I felt awful for even having such thoughts. She's been my best friend all my life!"

Heiji and Uehara waited as Yamaguchi fought back more tears. "Do you think one of your friends might be hiding something about the murder?"

Yamaguchi considered this for a moment. "Oh, we all loved Umeko. I suppose we were all a little jealous of how well off she was now, but we were still happy for her."

"Well off?" Heiji repeated.

"Yes," Yamaguchi said, looking away. "She owned that big, fancy resort. Have you seen it yet?" Heiji nodded. "It's really impressive. Did you see all that brand new equipment in the kitchen?"

"Speaking of the kitchen," Heiji began. "Did you know how much food there was, already prepared, in the refrigerator?"

Yamaguchi paled a little, but fought to regain her composure. "I don't like pre-made food too much. Neither did Umeko. All I did was cut up some fruit. It was in the middle of the night, and we didn't really want packaged food."

"There were crumbs on the couch you sat at," Uehara pointed out. "Fruit doesn't make crumbs."

The other woman slumped. "_And _I got out some cookies and potato chips for Honda. But really, that's it!" She looked nervously at the two detectives scrutinizing every bit of information she gave them.

Uehara wondered about Junko Yamaguchi's character. Why did it feel like she was still hiding things? Meanwhile, Heiji thought back to the layout of the kitchen. The dry storage pantry for packaged foods was in a corner of the kitchen, wasn't it?

* * *

><p><em>Back at the resort,<em>

Shinichi wandered around the resort, only faintly aware that it was growing darker each moment. According to the call Heiji had just made, they had only been able to get a hold of Honda and Yamaguchi. The Mizushimas were still out somewhere and a reluctant Youko Minami would be coming to the resort within the next hour. Until she and Heiji and Uehara came back, he had little to do but wait.

However, he still felt like there was something serious he was overlooking. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he felt like it could prove as the vital clue he needed for the case.

He jumped when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He checked the caller ID, and saw it was Ayumi. Probably calling to find out where they were.

"Hello?"

"Shinichi-sempai, you're investigating a case aren't you?" He froze. "Don't even try to tell us some roundabout answer like Heiji-sempai!"

"Yes," he sighed. "We are."

"Why did you just leave us? We're the Detective Club! I thought we did things together. But it had to be your _brother_ who called you out and told us what you were doing and to keep an eye on you—"

Something clicked in Shinichi's mind. "Wait, say that again! That thing about Kaito,"

"What? 'Kaito wants us to keep an eye on you'?"

"No, before that,"

"Um, 'he called you out'?"

"That's it!" Shinichi smiled confidently. Now there were just a few more things they needed to find out and they could solve the case. "Hey, you guys want to come here? The case is almost solved. I'll text you the address and you can help if you want."

"Well of course we want to come! And it wouldn't really be a friends-trip without all of our friends!"

"All right, then I'll hang up now." He didn't wait for a response to this and ended the call. Quickly, his mind still racing, he keyed the address of _Olympia_ into a text and sent it to Ayumi's number. Finished, he slid the phone back into his pocket and began to walk back to the resort. While wandering outside, he had inadvertently walked a distance away from the actual building, though he remained on the grounds.

Suddenly he heard a twig snap behind him. Shinichi spun to see who was there, and felt a hard blow from a blunt object to the back of his head.

His vision wavered and he almost fell to the ground, but it wasn't hard enough to knock him unconscious. He pretended it was, though, swaying a bit more than he felt, waiting for the attacker to let down their guard.

Shinichi saw a form out of the corner of his eye and rushed at it, closing the distance to prevent any more assaults. He grasped the person's forearm tightly, hoping that whoever it was would stop.

The person was a young woman. She broke into tears when she saw Shinichi's face up close. But she wasn't holding anything that could have been responsible for the blow. Shinichi's heart raced. There must be someone else. He glanced around and saw another person, a young man, standing a meter away, looking shocked. He let go of the woman and backed away.

"I take it you're Mr. and Mrs. Mizushima?" he said coldly.

"Y-yes," the woman answered softly. "But we—Oh, Ryuu, this was an awful idea. Now we look like the culprits even more!" She trembled and her husband walked over and hugged her.

Ryuu Mizushima had a tortured look on his face, as if trying to decide something difficult. "Okay, we'll spill everything, if that makes you feel better. We know you're one of the people investigating this. Please don't get the wrong idea. We weren't trying to kill you. We were just—"

"It's fine." Shinichi said, though he still watched them closely. "It's not serious. And it doesn't really matter now. But I do want to know some things: Why didn't you hear Minami being killed?"

The Mizushimas glanced at each other. Aki Misushima was the one to speak this time. "Yesterday, we were the ones who got here last. Everyone else had already taken a nap so they could stay up all night. But we were still tired, so we went to bed once it was nighttime. Though, the television was so loud, we could hear it all the way upstairs. So Ryuu and I got some ear plugs to block out some of the sound. They mostly worked, and we were able to sleep through the night."

"What about the alarm?"

"We forgot to set it and woke up late." Ryuu Mizushima admitted. "We didn't spend as long looking for Umeko as we told the police. But we did find something in our room when we woke up that worried us."

"The present we had gotten for Umeko was gone!"

"What was the gift?"Shinichi asked. If it was what he suspected, then all of the pieces would fall perfectly into place.

"We remembered that Umeko really liked kitchen things, so we got her a utility knife." Aki Mizushima whispered, looking at her husband's shoulder. "Nothing big, only a six-inch blade, but it was a one-of-a-kind that we thought she would like. But when we saw that the wrapper had been opened, we panicked, hit it in my bag, and looked around the house for her. I guess we had a suspicion that something had happened. When we couldn't find her, we figured she may have already opened it while we were asleep and went into town."

Shinichi was silent. All of the pieces had just fallen into place. He knew who had done it, and how they did it. Now, he just needed to talk with Heiji again and they could prove it to the detectives, the friends of the victim and the culprit.

Ryuu and Aki Mizushima were unsettled by his silence. Ryuu said firmly, "I know this makes us look really suspicious, but I'm telling you that we didn't do it!"

"I know," Shinichi assured him. "And I'll let everyone know once they get here. I just need to talk to the Inspector right now. You should come in too. It's getting dark." The couple still looked nervous. "Don't worry. If anyone even thinks of accusing you, they'll be proved wrong."

"Thank you so much," Aki said, relieved. "I believe you, somehow. And I'm so glad that you know the truth now, not some slanted argument that our friends might make."

Shinichi smiled. "I'm 'Conan Edogawa,' a detective. Finding out the one truth is what I do."

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: Ooo, the next one is the conclusion! I'll try to write it sooner than this one. This had more of a wait than I intended because my mom came into my room during the night and forced me to go to bed. I don't want her to take my computer away, so I had to listen to her talk about how she wants me spending more time with my family. So I have to rethink my fanfiction schedule.<strong>

**Flanagan: I wonder if anyone can guess who it was. Well, two of the options are out, so there's only two left to choose from. **

**Kimiko: Oh, and I couldn't help but think that it was Scooby-Doo-ish when Yamato was all, 'split up and look for clues.' I loved that show when I was a kid, though Detective Conan has better cases…**


	18. Detective Club 2, part 5

_Flanagan: We screwed up again, Kimiko. They had to wait a bit for this, too._

_Kimiko: I know. [pouts] Well then I'll start now. I told Kaida before this, but this is kind of what the Mizushimas were thinking last chapter—_

"Look, there's the detective who's on the case!" -Aki

"Do you think he'll see us sneaking around here for no good reason?" -Ryuu

"Oh no, we have to make sure he doesn't suspect us!" -Aki

"But what should we do?" -Ryuu

"I don't know!" -Aki

"Why don't we knock him unconscious so he doesn't see us going back into the resort to make sure we didn't leave any incriminating evidence for ourselves!" -Ryuu

"Great idea!" -Aki

"Let's do that!" –Ryuu

_All right, as that loose end has been resolved, here's the resolution to the case!_

* * *

><p><strong>Parallel: Detective Club<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Case #2, <strong>**the Vacation Resort Murder Mystery (part 5/final)**

Shinichi groaned, stroking the back of his head tenderly. It didn't matter that Ryuu Mizushima had missed anything vital: it still hurt to get whacked on the head by a daypack. But he still had more important things to deal with tonight. All of the suspects were coming back to _Olympia,_ as well as the Detective Club and the detectives and police working on the case. He had just spoken with Heiji and they had sorted everything out. Now all they had to do was prove it to the people gathered there.

He and Heiji, after checking on a few things around the building to make sure they were in place, finally entered the event room, where all the involved people were situated. The guests were trying to figure out why there was such a crowd in their vacation-resort-turned-crime-scene. The police said very little, waiting for Heiji and Shinichi to come back. The Detective Club sulked in the corner, still upset over the fact that their presidents hadn't bothered to tell them about the case.

Heiji and Shinichi gave knowing smiles as all the people in the room turned to face them. "Thanks for waiting for us," Heiji began, but was promptly interrupted by Yamaguchi.

"Could you please tell us what's going on?" the woman asked Yamato, sounding tired and exasperated. "I think we've all had a very trying and emotional day. I want to get my things out of my room so I can move to a room downstairs. I don't want to sleep right next to the place where—you know."

Honda agreed, and the Mizushimas were silent, staring expectantly at Shinichi.

"Not now," Yamato said. "We're all here right now because we've figured out who killed Umeko Minami. It's one of you."

A shocked silence followed this revelation, which then erupted into protests by Honda and Yamaguchi, along with startled cries from the Mizushima couple.

"One of us!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't believe it!"

"Are you messing with us?"

"We all loved Umeko!"

Yamato and Uehara tried vainly to regain order. "Please listen to us," Uehara said loudly. "Kuroba and Hattori will explain everything in a moment."

"Those teenagers?" Honda said in disbelief.

"We're not just teens," Genta protested from the corner of the room. "We're all detectives too! And Kuroba and Hattori are the best detectives in Tokyo! They even help the police there with some of the unsolved cases!" The rest of the club also seemed ready to defend their presidents, regardless of how they were forgotten for the majority of the investigation. They were proud of the two juniors, and they admired how well they worked together. No one should disregard them.

"It doesn't matter how old we are," Shinichi said quietly, though everyone in the room heard. "What matters is that the truth is revealed. Someone here committed a crime, and it's a detective's job to expose their actions. And we're detectives, so that's what we're going to do."

Heiji continued, "Just listen and we'll explain everything. Yesterday, Ms. Yamagichi, Mr. Honda and Mr. and Mrs. Mizushiuma came to _Olympia _for Ms. Minami's party. You had all heard that she was celebrating her resort's success and wanted to spend a weekend with you all, her friends from the business college. And last night, after Mr. and Mrs. Mizushima went to bed, Mr. Honda, Ms. Yamaguchi and the late Ms. Minami decided to stay up all night watching television in this room, because they had come earlier and had taken a rest during the day. But while you were here, Yamaguchi left for the kitchen and Honda left for the bathroom, together. That left Minami alone."

"And that means only the Mizushimas could make any sort of move," one of the policemen reasoned, "Because they could get by without anyone noticing them,"

"No," Shinichi countered. "Minami was in her room, without any sign of a struggle. So that means that someone told her to go up there. They called her away from the event room."

"Wouldn't it still be Ryuu or Aki? Junko and I couldn't go back to the room because we were busy." Honda said, throwing an angry glance at the couple, who glared indignantly back.

"It wasn't us!" Aki cried.

"No, it wasn't," Shinichi agreed, "Because the person who called Minami out did so beforehand. They told her to wait in her room to for a reason that she couldn't be suspicious of,"

The room was silent as everyone waited with baited breath for the next few words.

"A present." Heiji said simply. "The culprit said they would give Minami her congratulations-present in her room, where it was just the two of them. While they were alone, the culprit instead took the Mizushimas' present, a utility knife, and killed her in her closet. But it wasn't the Mizushimas, though the knife was purchased by them. It was…Noburu Honda." The two detectives pointed at the man sitting on one of the couches.

All eyes focused on the college student, who immediately flew into a rage. "What are you trying to say? You're just guessing! I was in the bathroom!"

"Let us explain," Shinichi said. "You told Minami when you first came that you wanted to give her something, when the two of you were alone. You told her that it would be at night, when no one was watching, so it could be a surprise between only you two. So she agreed, because she trusted you, and went up to her room on her own when the room was empty."

"You got past the kitchen because of two things that were unique about it." Heiji continued. "There's the door. Yes, it was open, but if you pull the right door towards you, the left one will open the other way. It doesn't show the hallway if Yamaguchi is going to the pantry, which is in the far corner of the kitchen. And she went there for your snacks, Honda. You took that opportunity, when she couldn't see the hallway, to slip past and run upstairs."

"That still doesn't mean anything!"

Shinichi just kept talking once Heiji stopped. "You probably left that small mess in the bathroom earlier in the day, to cover your alibi. But it really wasn't all that strong. It was just stronger than your friends' alibis." His tone hardened. "It's still horrible, using your friends like that."

"Prove it!"

"Well, we can't use fingerprints, because you were wearing gloves," Heiji said, looking over at Shinichi. "But, we do have this, which I'm sure you'll recognize." Shinichi reached into a plastic bag with a handkerchief and took out a book. Honda's eyes widened.

"Where was that?" he gasped, forgetting about his protests.

"Under Minami's bed, which is surprising, because this is the present you wanted to give her," Shinichi said calmly. "The place where you thought it would be contained this instead." He reached his other hand into the bag and took out a note.

Honda rushed forwards and grabbed the note. He read it out loud, unconsciously. "'Dear Noburu; I'm sorry I couldn't wait to find your present. I was sure that it was this book, which I got for you at graduation in return for all those books you got for me. I remember what we said to each other then: that I would get it back when I had become successful in my dream, while you kept it as encouragement for your own dream. I'm sorry I'm impatient. I still want to talk with you though, so I'll see you tonight in my room. Because I know you want to get some help for your college debts. Even though I'm not rich now, I'll take out a loan for you. Because I still love you and I want to start our relationship soon. Love, Umeko.'" He shook violently and fell to the ground, tears starting to form at her eyes.

No one spoke for a few minutes. Yamaguchi, the Mizushimas, Youko Minami and Inoue were all in sorrowful shock. The Detective Club was trying to take everything in, as Ayumi cried onto Genta's shoulder. The policemen waited for Honda's confession.

"Why did she say that she wasn't rich?" Yamaguchi asked quietly. "She owns this huge resort. How could she not be rich?"

Heiji closed his eyes, biting his lip. This was the hardest thing to say. "A resort like this, especially one that is completely new, costs a lot of money to build. It would take well over a decade for her to finally pay back all of the loans she took out to build and furnish this place. And that's even if she had customers all around the year. But labor, marketing, maintenance, food and equipment costs, variable expenses and tons of other things keep her budget tight. She wouldn't start actually making money for herself for a long time."

Yamaguchi burst into tears. "No, no. I hated her, and her success, and now you're telling me it wasn't success? I heard Honda when he went past and ignored it for this? I was willing to kill her today, if Honda hadn't already done it last night, and she still cared about us?" She broke down, clenching her fists and pounding the cushions next to her.

"I did it," Honda said wearily. "I thought she would forget about us, and in the meantime I forgot that she still loved me. I can't believe it. I can't believe I was so selfish and stupid and blinded by my own greed."

Shinichi and Heiji set down the evidence and the policemen collected it. They arrested both Honda, for the murder, and Yamaguchi, for assisting in the cover-up. Youko Minami and Shouta Inoue thanked the detectives before they left for a hotel in town, along with Ryuu and Aki Mizushima, who were still shaken at the fact that their good friends were so cold-blooded.

Before he left, Yamato, was about to say something to the teenagers, but stopped himself. They were upset over the disregard for human life shown in the murder, even if they did a good job of hiding it. Their friends were talking to them now, trying to get them to get out of the resort and back to their own agenda, at a hot-springs resort. Yamato watched their faces, wondering how they would react to the conclusion to the case that they themselves had gotten involved in.

The two high school students walked on with their friends towards a taxi they had taken to get to the resort. Yamato studied their actions with his one good eye. He could tell that they weren't going to forget the crime, but they wouldn't let it constantly eat away at their lives. They wouldn't completely forget about the complex mess left in the wake of a criminal, but they still wouldn't forget about all of the good there was in life. They would find the truth and defend it for the sake of innocent people.

Yamato smiled to himself and shut the door of his car.

They were detectives, all right.

* * *

><p>"<em>Shin-chan~!"<em>

"_You're calling me again?"_

"_Of course! I want to make sure nothing has happened to you. Knowing you and Heiji, you've already gotten a good lead on the case."_

"_Actually, we solved it."_

"_Really? Wow! That's my Shinichi, my super-awesome twin brother!"_

"_Thanks, I guess."_

"_Oh, Shinichi, hand the phone to Heiji,"_

"_Why?"_

"_Just do it."_

"_Fine."_

"_Hey, Kuroba, this is Heiji! Did your brother tell you about how quickly we solved the murder?"_

"_Heiji Hattori, I trusted you and the others to make sure Shinichi had a fun, relaxing time! And you took him to a murder! How is that fun? And before you try to distract me with some detective-duty nonsense, I need to know one thing: did anything bad happen to Shinichi?"_

"_Um, I don't think so. He didn't say anything."_

"_Well, of course he's not going to say anything! He's stupid like that. Just smack him on the head for me, and tell him it's from me."_

"_Okay, I guess."_

"_Ow!"_

"_Hey, Kuroba, he did get hurt…He says one of the suspects hit him on the head with a daypack earlier."_

"_What?"_

"_That's all he's saying."_

"_Oh~? Well, tell him that once he gets home, I'm going to keep an eye on him everywhere he goes. And he's not going to be going to the Detective Club meetings for at least a week. And he's going to help me with more magic acts. And he's going to stay at home and cook with Mom. And—"_

"_Hold it, Kuroba! One thing at a time!"_

"_Just tell him that his loving brother isn't pleased and is busy plotting right now. Goodnight."_

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: Finally done with the murder mystery. Good Lord, that was hard. But it's still really interesting trying to write a good mystery. Oh, and if there's anything weird or missing or wrong, I'm very sorry.<br>**

**Flanagan: I suppose the lead to the confession is a little awkward, but I still think it's okay. Besides, your writing is getting better. [To the readers] Review and tell us what you thought of the mystery!**


	19. School Appropriate Activities

_Kimiko: Yay! I'm here again, updating this fic! After that long, exhausting, and probably boring mystery with an anticlimactic ending [which, depressingly enough, received no reviews] and after that unforgiveable hiatus, I decided it would be best to update with something that doesn't really fit into a parallel. If you really want, it could be considered semi-Teacher's Lounge…_

**(The setting for this is after the first half [Shinichi half] and before the second half [Kaito half] of ****Power of Reason, Power of Magic****)**

* * *

><p><strong>School-Appropriate Activities<strong>

Shuichi Akai sat in his apartment, looking over the handful of different newspapers that all covered the terrorist attack on the police headquarters buildings. They all detailed how the brave policemen were able to take control of the situation quickly and efficiently, and how no innocent civilians were harmed. There was a short list of the policemen who had been killed or wounded in the fight, which also showered them with the gratitude of the city. He knew that the people of Tokyo were already planning on numerous events and demonstrations to further show their thanks to the men and women who protected them.

He scanned each newspaper carefully, and then moved his laptop computer closer to him. He searched every website and news site that mentioned the attack. He looked through every picture he could find. Lastly, he watched about a dozen news stations' coverage of the aftermath.

His teenage students had only shown up in about twelve percent of the pictures, and they were almost all in the background. Only a few clearly showed them, but these were all taken later in the day, when many other people were begging the policemen and women to allow them to take pictures with the heroes of the city. Apparently the kids had also had their pictures taken with some of the members of the force whom they had been with that day.

They only showed up in a few minute sections in the background of the video clips he found and all mentions of any teenagers were nonexistent in the newspaper reports.

Akai sighed, leaning back. This could have been a lot more difficult. He could easily convince Ms. Kisaki that the students had nothing to do with the events, despite the fact that he had taken them away from the field trip early. It could be passed off as a coincidence with minimal effort. He didn't have to do any complicated cover-up work, hacking, or physical intimidation.

All he really had to do was come up with a good story for the students' activities on that Friday. It had to be something that was still technically true, since he had standards and was not going to encourage his own students to lie to an authoritative figure. But it still had to be school-appropriate.

He thought for a moment, staring at a picture he had found that displayed the Kuroba twins with their arms slung over the shoulders of a curly-haired man with a triumphant smile. Kaito Kuroba was grinning like a child while Shinichi Kuroba only had a pleasant winner's smile, much like the one a person might assume if they had just solved something very difficult but wanted to retain a level of modesty.

"They're interesting people," Akai muttered to himself.

* * *

><p><em>The next Monday, at Beika High School [the day after the party at the Kuroba house]…<em>

Shinichi was starting to regret deciding to forgive his brother for the ridiculous events of the previous night. Kaito had not stopped with the picture of him and Heiji. He had proceeded to tell Ran about every embarrassing story she had never heard, even making some up. No matter how many times he protested, his friends would just laugh and say it was all just fun. Kaito would stare at him with a serious face, saying, "But Shin-chan, if Ran's going to be your girlfriend, she's going to have to know all your secrets!" Shinichi had responded with "These aren't secrets! They're just your stupid rambles!"

And now, Kaito kept sending him funny grins even as they entered the school building. It was almost worse that he hadn't said much on the way to school. Shinichi would roll his eyes every time and stare at something else, but there was something about Kaito's silly faces that was irresistibly funny. If he thought about them too much, he might forget his frustration and laugh along with Kaito.

That would kind of defeat the purpose of a silent treatment.

But somehow, he had managed to avoid breaking his stubborn resolve in this attitude. Shinichi was actually feeling pretty proud of himself. He was so satisfied with his situation at the moment that he didn't even consider the possibility that Kaito might be planning something bigger later.

He tried hard to walk to his homeroom class as fast as possible, barely stopping to wave to his friends from the Detective Club in the hallway. He even walked up a different stairway in hopes of avoiding looking at his twin brother, but somehow they still arrived outside the room at the same time. The blue-eyed teenager only sighed and closed his eyes, allowing the other to enter the classroom first.

If he had his eyes open, he would have seen Kaito's epic, triumphant beaming smile while passing.

* * *

><p><em>Five seconds later…<em>

"KAITO!" Shinichi and Aoko screamed in unison as they chased the messy-haired boy back down the hallway. Shinichi's face was red from embarrassment and both he and Aoko were covered in a sweet-smelling white substance that was beginning to hinder their movements.

"You just _HAVE _to experiment on me, don't you?" Shinichi shouted, trying hard to shake the stuff off his clothes. "I know what this is, Kaito!"

"Why was I included in this stupid scheme, BaKaito?" Aoko demanded, waving a mop like a sword. "Just when I thought you finally had some decency!"

Kaito glanced back for a moment, gave a small, "Eep!" and continued to head for his small "getaway" hot air balloon on the roof. He had set it there beforehand, knowing that he would have to send it up into the air back towards the Kuroba house to shake off his pursuers. Meanwhile, he would slip back into the classroom once Shinichi and Aoko's attention was on it. He would wait for them to realize he wasn't there and hopefully by that time, they might be less mad. Or class would start.

As he dodged the people lingering in the halls before class, he almost asked himself why he really did go to those lengths. Was it just to mess around with Shinichi more? Was he still getting revenge on his brother?

No. That wasn't it.

He was just being the most interesting and loving brother in the world. And he was being the most interesting and unpredictable person at Beika High.

* * *

><p>Akai listened to the loud noises fade away as the three students moved further away towards the roof. He smiled knowingly to himself and decided he would just wait until after school to tell the students who had been involved with the terrorists on Saturday about the story they would be telling people. He figured they were all smart enough to not say the complete truth. But he had been worried about whether they might be depressed from the activities. It seemed that his anxiety was only speculative.<p>

He would just tell them later that he had thought long and hard about the "activities" they had done, and decided on this story: They were learning about human psychology and sociology under normal and stimulated circumstances. They even performed so remarkably that they were able to do a case study.

It was a stretch, and if anyone looked into it too much they would find the holes in his reasoning, but it was the best interpretation of the truth that Principal Kisaki would believe. And it didn't really matter if the students were unaffected by the events.

The only ones who might disagree with a drive behind their arguments were Mr. Okiya, Mr. Kudou, and Ms. Vineyard.

Akai considered these people for a moment.

They might…

…but they shouldn't do anything like _that_, right?

They were still teachers who cared about their students.

He looked absentmindedly out the window to see a sizeable pink-and-white balloon float past.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I'm really sorry that I haven't updated this story in about a month [and, ugh, it was so short]! I could list excuses until my list is longer than this chapter, but I won't. I'll just try harder to write the next chapter without so much of a wait. And I'll try to stop breeding plot bunnies that have no correlation to the things I'm writing now.<strong>

**Well, on a brighter side, I've finished one of my huge projects [that I sacrificed a lot of my time to complete]. I still have others, but they can wait. **

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Actually, I might have not spoken the complete truth at the beginning. Maybe this chapter will lead into something else…**

**For everyone who's still reading this, I'd like to thank you a ton! Hugs and kisses from Kimiko! \(^_^)/**


	20. The Transfer Student 4

**Parallel: The Transfer Student**

* * *

><p><strong>(Hmm…let's say that this is right after the last TS. That would be the heist)<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Part 4—Black Coffee and Lovely Assistants<strong>

"How in the world are you able to be so awake?" Shinichi looked distastefully at the reflection of his twin brother in the bathroom mirror. "I was up last night just as late as you were. How is it that you're so blissfully alert right now?"

Kaito shrugged, his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. He looked absolutely ridiculous with the foamy toothpaste smothering his lips, but Shinichi had no desire to waste any energy on expressing his irritation. He just rolled his eyes and focused on finishing up as soon as possible. Once he was done, he could rush downstairs and have his daily morning coffee: hot, black and fresh from the container. He closed his eyes, smiling in anticipation despite his earlier behavior.

His brother, perceptive as he was, noticed and an evil grin momentarily crept across his face before it reverted back to his normal poker face. He quickly finished his task and covertly slipped out of the bathroom.

Shinichi turned his head around when he heard the door click shut. He frowned and looked at the handle. Suddenly his eyes widened.

Kaito was just starting to walk down the stairs when he heard the banging on the door. "Kaito! What did you do to the lock? Open up the door!"

"Oh, but now you can get all the rest you want!" he sang back to his brother, who he had left locked in the bathroom.

"This isn't funny, Kaito!"

But Kaito was already headed for the kitchen, humming a song he had heard recently to himself. He distantly remembered how Shinichi would always make the coffee. Up until now, it was something that was so normal that he had no idea how to do it, like his mother making pancakes. Now that he finally figured he could do this one thing for his brother after forcing him to take care of both the police and Hakuba last night, he wasn't sure what to do exactly. He looked blandly at the machine and the bag of coffee grounds and thought for a moment. _'It can't be too hard,'_ he thought and began to look for the other thing that Shinichi always used. What was it called? He didn't remember. But it was probably important.

He finally found it—it looked like a paper towel—and put it in the proper place in the machine. Then Kaito was faced with a new dilemma. How much should he use? He never paid attention to how much of the black, smelly stuff his brother would pour into the filter-thingy.

"I'll just fill as much as I think I need," he muttered. "If it's too much, I'll add water."

* * *

><p>Shinichi gave up hitting the door of the bathroom and sat on the floor. He ran his hands over his already-combed hair and leaned his head against the wall.<p>

Now that he sat down again, he realized that he still felt really tired. Last night really drained him. Usually, the police were fine at Kaito's heists. Even if they got close to Kaito, he was always able to slip away and Shinichi was always there to help him. But last night was different. Hakuba's presence had added a definite challenge to the heist. It was even dangerous, he reminded himself. When he had seen that gun next to Hakuba, he had asked about it and the other detective said it was mostly harmless. But there was something in the way he said it that made Shinichi worry.

Still. Shinichi was sure that Hakuba was really a good person. He had a good detective spirit, like himself, Heiji and the rest of the Detective Club. He also was trying to think about Kaitou KID's motives, which was more than what Shinichi could say about Nakamori and his task force. They were out to apprehend KID. Hakuba seemed like he wanted to find the truth behind KID more than the man behind him. Though, Shinichi knew that he would need to find out _who_ KID was before he could even try to analyze the thief's character.

Even his own brother wasn't sure of everything that went on in Kaito Kuroba's head. Here he was, locked in his bathroom, wondering what in the world his nutty twin was doing.

* * *

><p>Kaito stared at the thick black liquid in the coffee pot. It didn't look the same as when Shinichi made it. He switched the machine off and considered whether to clean it up to hide his mistakes or to ask Shinichi for help. Or…he could take a third option.<p>

He set the half-full container of maybe-coffee on the countertop and unplugged the machine. Thankfully it was light enough to carry. Carefully, he picked it up and moved it to the garage. He set it on a mostly-empty shelf out of sight and sighed in relief. He could deal with it later. Right now, he could deny that the Kuroba family ever had a coffee-maker to begin with, despite the presence of the not-quite-coffee in the kitchen.

Now back in the kitchen, he picked up the container and held it up to the light. Hardly any light passed through, which he supposed was not a good thing. He sniffed the questionable coffee and almost passed out from the intensity. It was even stronger than the smell of the grounds! Was that even possible? He poured hot water into the rest of the empty space inside so it might dilute. He looked at the coffee through the light again. This looked better. It was closer to the normal color, at least.

He put the container on the countertop again and went upstairs to release Shinichi. When he arrived at the door, he reached upwards and unlocked the special locks he had put on this side of the door. It had been an impulsive decision that was made the previous day, but it was worth it. Kaito had tricked Shinichi, and now he would make him completely forget about everything with the coffee.

Hopefully.

Besides the uncertainty he had about the coffee, Kaito felt that his plan to start the day was foolproof. He opened the door carefully and peeked inside, still on his guard in case his brother decided to throw something at him.

However, nothing happened within the first few seconds of opening the door. Kaito couldn't even hear anything. He cautiously stepped into the bathroom to see more clearly.

Shinichi was propped up against the wall, his eyes closed and a peaceful look on his face. Kaito stared at him for a moment, wondering how this happened. Shinichi had been yelling at him, hadn't he? He ran through a list of possible scenarios in his head. Maybe Shinichi was still tired? But when he wakes up, he usually didn't fall back asleep. He only did that when he stayed up too late reading or analyzing mysteries. Still, if he started thinking about something and began to try to analyze it, while_ already_ tired, it might have the same effect.

But what would Shinichi be analyzing?

Kaito shrugged it off and shook his brother awake. "Wake up, Shin-chan~! I made you coffee~."

* * *

><p><em>Later, while walking to school…<em>

"I'm still wondering where that machine 'disappeared' to, Kaito," Shinichi said monotonously. He had noticed a difference in the coffee's taste, but he was touched that his brother actually tried his best to make it, so he was no longer upset. Still, seeing the glass coffee pot just sitting on the countertop with no coffee maker in its usual place was worrying. "I'm not going to be mad at whatever you did, okay? Just promise me that you'll clean whatever might still be in it when we get home."

"Okay," Kaito responded, staring up at the clouds amiably. "You know, Shinichi, I was thinking about last night again."

"What about it?"

"About Saguru Hakuba. Do you think last night was dangerous?"

Shinichi stopped and looked his twin in the face. "It was dangerous. It is every night, but not for me. I'm worried about you. I worry all the time about whether those guys, who were after Pandora, will come back and try to hurt you. Compared to them, I don't think Hakuba and Nakamori really matter. And if it becomes a problem, we can deal with it."

Kaito smiled and patted Shinichi on the shoulder, then continued to walk. "I think Hakuba is an interesting person, but he isn't a threat. As long as he doesn't suspect you, we'll be fine. He's more interested in you, but as long as he sees you next to him at the heists, it'll be fine!"

"Then what did you think was dangerous?"

Kaito tapped his chin with his finger before answering. "If he realizes that you might be hurting his chances of catching KID, he might stop working with you. That would mean more stress for you, and less sleep for you. I can't have that, Shin-chan!"

"Please don't call me that," Shinichi replied with a heavy sigh. "I had enough with Mom calling me that."

"Aww, but it's cute!"

"And maybe I should call you Kai-chan, like the kid you are!" Shinichi irritably snapped back, a little more loudly than he was intending. Kaito's face turned thoughtful, as if he was considering whether to add another pun based on Kaitou KID, but another voice interrupted any further conversation.

"You two really are interesting," Saguru Hakuba's calm words floated into the atmosphere in between the twins. They froze slightly, and then looked aside to see him walking down a side street towards them. Directly behind him was Heiji, who was looking slightly annoyed. The two newcomers were still far enough away to have not heard any of their conversation except the last few lines, but Shinichi still felt a bit threatened.

"How exactly are we interesting?" Shinichi asked warily.

Saguru strode confidently forward and stopped when he was in front of the twins. "How are you not interesting?" he wondered aloud, eyes never breaking contact with Shinichi. The calculating looks from each young detective did not waver in the slightest. "You both are very entertaining on the outside, Kaito in particular. And yet, you both seem like you have so much hidden. Though you hide it in different ways, you are both carrying something and keeping it away from the world." He scrutinized Shinichi for a moment more, and then relaxed visibly.

"But then again, who am I to cross-examine you?" he murmured to himself. "It's just an interesting observation."

Heiji walked to the other side of Kaito, which was as far as he could get from Saguru as possible. "Everyone has something they want to keep hidden." He was in a bad mood for some reason, and kept avoiding looking at Saguru. "And if they want it hidden, you shouldn't stick your face into their business, Hakuba."

Kaito looked from Saguru to Heiji. He had the faintest impression that they did not like one another. He would have to change that soon. The four boys began walking down the street towards the school, which was still far off in the distance.

"I'm only noting, as an outsider taking an impression of a person, that these two people are intriguing characters. More so because they are twins, or perhaps that's just my own judgment," Saguru defended cooly. "You don't have to get all hot-headed about it."

Shinichi and Kaito shared a knowing glance. These two clearly rubbed each other the wrong way. Their personalities seemed to clash horribly. If they didn't do something to change the topic of conversation, a verbal fight might break out. And knowing Heiji's tendency to trip over his words in an argument, they would bet that the level-headed Saguru would win. That would do nothing to alleviate the problem. So to avoid all of this, they needed a distraction. And who better to distract than Kaito Kuroba, magician extraordinaire?

"Heiji, I'm just wondering, but did you see the coverage of KID's heist last night?" he asked with a wide grin. Heiji blinked at the change in topic, but was almost instantly hooked on this now idea.

"Oh, I saw it," he said. "It was interesting. I'm wondering when "Starry Night" will show up. KID usually returns what he steals a while after the crime. Well, except for his first crime, but I'm not sure if that actually was the real KID."

"What do you mean?" Shinichi and Kaito asked at the same time, which earned a laugh from Heiji and an impressed glance from Saguru.

"Well, there are some people who think that the person who stole the Shah Diamond was some no-name thief, who happened to work similarly to Kaitou KID's methods. It's not too strong of an idea, but it makes some sense. KID wouldn't have much reason to keep the Shah Diamond, and he wouldn't know that the Shah thief worked similarly. Nakamori might have just made a mistake in saying the two are the same, right?"

"But KID left a note when he stole the Shah Diamond," Shinichi pointed out.

"It could be a group of criminals." Heiji countered.

"No," Kaito said slowly. The others looked at him. "KID is a magician-thief. He's a gentleman. He has codes of conduct, and any person who watches his heists would know. It's got to be the same person every time."

"But he gets away each time," Heiji added. "So do you think he has help?"

Kaito smiled and crossed his arms. "Well, every KID fan in the country would be willing to help him if he asked, though only some would be quiet about it. Still, for a magician, it's easier to trick your audience when someone _in _the audience is on your side. Actually, it's even easier when you have a lovely assistant to help distract the attention of the audience, even if it's only for a moment."

Heiji and Saguru were thoughtful after this. Shinichi made sure they weren't looking at him, and then threw Kaito a 'Do you know what you just said?' look. Kaito just smirked back. Shinichi just had to hope that Saguru and Heiji wouldn't draw any conclusion about them based on Kaito's brainless remarks.

But Saguru at least was. He was thinking very seriously about KID's motives, the mysteries of the Kuroba twins, and the possibilities of KID's accomplices.

At least until he realized that Kaito had just called two pigeons to land respectively on his and Heiji's heads.

* * *

><p><strong>Kimiko: I can't believe myself. I promise that you won't have to wait long and I make you wait. [pulls at hair] I hate writing excuses, though, so I'll just apologize. I <span>have<span> been working on the ideas for the chapters, especially Kaida-san's requests for Kaito-plotting time and Evil-teacher time. Just be patient, please. I really like this fic, and I love updating it.**


End file.
